Jagger Buckley: forbidden child
by mcdn11
Summary: Jagger Buckley is a young orphan from West Virginia. One day, he is attacked by a monster, but with the help of an unusual girl, he is saved. Then, he goes to Camp Half-Blood, where he realizes that not only is he a mistake, but he's the grandest of them all. Percy Jackson AU
1. A fish out of water

**Chapter 1**

I slowly walked through the small town street of Shepherdstown, West Virginia. The small town is what you would imagine those American small towns, that everyone knows each other, everyone is friendly except for that big bully, etc. I was 12 years old now and going to 7th grade of Shepherdstown Middle School (the people who founded this town were really creative with names). I've lived all my life in God's Children Home, an orphanage located in this small town. I loved it here, everyone knew each other, it was peaceful, nobody cared that I was from the orphanage, so on so forth.

The orphanage wasn't that bad honestly. Each kid had its own bathroom and bedroom, the food was great and they taught us manners and everything so we could be functional in society. Of course, there were times in which I wish to have known my parents, but life wouldn't be the same by a long shot. Right now I felt as if I had an extended family of eight siblings and two mothers.

It was really cool how each one of us was different, but we all shared some qualities. For example, I was the "Don Juan", always getting the girls to fall for me, then Jacob Heeley was that shy kid that didn't get along with anyone outside our family. But once we were in dinnertime or basically the family alone and together, we all changed demeanors and laughed and everything.

I found myself at the entrance of the school. When I entered, it was like everyone had their eyes focused on me. This wasn't anything new honestly. I mean, sorry if I forgot to tell you but I am the captain and quarterback of our football team, was the top scoring archer in the state, was the champion of karate of my division, practiced krav maga and also had the highest grades in the class. Not to brag, but I was kind of a school big shot. Every girl wanted to be with me and I took my fair share of them.

To be fair, if I was a girl I would also be running after me. My hair was brown (the type that when you're in the sun kind of looks reddish), I had blue eyes and was kind of tall for my age. I never knew from which parent I got my traits, I'm just thankful for them.

I heard the bell ring for homeroom. I walked for about a minute and arrived at Mrs. Fort classroom, which fortunately was also my first class. I sat in the center of the chairs with girls surrounding me, asking me if I was going to Packers party on Friday, how I had been, when was our next practice, etc. I just boringly replied "yeah I'm Going to the party" "I've been good" "Tomorrow at 3 is the practice" "No I don't like Riverdale" until the bell rang again, notifying the start of class.

Mrs. Fort was our ancient history teacher that started teaching this year. She had those penetrating eyes, an angelic voice that made you almost fall in love with her, but she was still kind of weird. She always smelled like sea-salt (even though we are miles away from a beach) and always seemed to have her hair wet.

"Hey, can I sit here?" I heard a girl ask me. A voice I've never heard before. I turned to my side and noticed a beautiful girl with black hair and blue eyes. She was honestly the prettiest girl I have ever seen in my whole life, straight out of a Victoria Secret catalog.

"Yeah sure. My name is Jagger, Jagger Buckley" I said introducing myself, giving her my signature smile that made all the girls swoon.

"Nice to meet you, Jagger. I'm Silena Beauregard" she said replying with her own smile, but to my surprise, she wasn't blushing.

Professor Fort started class talking about the ancient Greeks, their society as well as religion. In other words, we had to sit there for an hour hearing her rant about bogus. Mrs. Fort started to write something on the board, which I couldn't read on account of my dyslexia. Fortunately, I always got some girl to explain things to me after charming them, so it wasn't a big deal. Talking about conditions, I also had ADHD, but I had that controlled with pills.

"Hey umm sorry but what does the board say?" the new girl, Silena, asked me fro my right side

"I don't know sorry, I'm dyslexic"

"Wait a second...do you also have ADHD?" she asked me. I freaked out. Finally, someone hot who I thought was normal turns out to be my worst stalker yet. Well, second worst. Nobody could beat Kayla Marcel. That girl went into my room just so she could watch me sleep.

"How do you know that?" I asked her with a slight pitch filled with panic

She took a deep breath and sighed. "Just, I felt something about you. One quick question and please don't take this the wrong way, which parent do you have?" she asked me with genuine curiosity

"I thought everyone could see by my clothes that I'm an orphan. No parents for this guy"I told her with slight humor, but high aware that this hot girl could be dangerous.

Silena sensed as such and told me "Don't worry. I'll explain everything after class. Can you meet me in the football field at 3:15?"

"Yeah sure, but you better have an explanation for everything"

"I do"

The bell rang signaling our next class. When I was just about to leave the classroom, Mrs. Fort asked me to stay for a few minutes. It wasn't like I could say no, this was my lowest grade and I couldn't let a horrible teacher and poor decisions affect my future. A minute passed and she didn't say a word to me. I was just standing there like a gazelle waiting for a lioness to hunt her down.

"So, Jagger. I've called you here today to talk about you. You got a lot of nerve don't you?" she asked me.

"What do you mean?" I replied simply. She took me by the shoulders and began to shake me. A million thoughts passed through my mind. Was this my end? What the hell is going on inside this lady's head? Was I ever going to figure out how that hot girl knew those things about me? So many questions left unanswered when suddenly the door opened. When I saw who it was, it turned out the weird hot girl Silena Beauregard came to my rescue.

"I knew there was something fishy about you" I heard her mutter. Something fishy my ass, this crazy woman was going to sodomize me and make me do things. When I turned my head towards my attacker, I basically fell in love. The professor was singing a beautiful tune, in some strange language, but it was as if the tune was captivating me. I felt drawn to her, to her beautiful hear and birdlike bottom. Wait...birdlike bottom?!

I lost my trance when I focused on her body. She seemed half human and half bird, singing a beautiful tune.

"It's a siren!" Silena screamed at the top of her lungs

"What do you mean a siren?!"

"Just take this. I'll help you kill it" she told me handing me some knives.

Now, I have no idea what happened next, so bear with me. The next three minutes were filled with battle, but not like a fair battle. Eu contraire, I basically tortured that siren. It was as if some demonic demon took control of my body, making me relive each painful moment of my life and inject that pain into the siren. Not meeting my family, that time a kid from California called me a weak orphan, all those moments the referees were unjust and rooting for the other team, etc. Every inch of pain I have ever experienced was transformed into hate to the siren. After three minutes of torture, the siren turned into golden dust.

I stood there panting, completely confused about the events that had just transpired. First, it turns out my history teacher is a siren out of the water, then she tries to kill me, then I end up killing her. You know, typical Wednesday morning in a little old West Virginia town.

"So it seems my mission was a success, but no thanks to me," Silena said next to me, putting her soft angelic hand on my shoulder

"So, what now? We'll get charged for killing someone" I said starting to panic

"Don't worry, the mist will take care of it"

"The mist?"

"Don't worry, I'll tell you everything on our way to camp"

Wait, camp?

"What camp?" I asked her completely confused

"Let's just get going, I'll explain everything. I promise"

Little did I know that was the start of my new life, a life I didn't want to be part of.

**Hey! This book will be really short but it's basically about a demigod while the Titan war is happening. Silena is still older but for simplicity sake, I put her on 7th grade, she's still like a year older than him. Anyways I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'll update when I can. And finally, can anyone guess who Jagger's godly parent is? **


	2. Fighting the wolves

Walking in a country road, taking me home, to the place I belong should be relaxing. But on this occasion, not even my favorite song "Country Roads" could help me slow down my heartbeat. Let me recap a little. Just about half an hour before, my history teacher, Mrs. Fort, turned out to be a siren that wanted to eat me. Not only that, but some demonic thing seemed to take control of my body and mind, making me torture and kill her. Right now I was walking in the road (which seemed more like the woods with a little bit of road on it) towards my home, the orphanage God's Children Home, with the new hot girl Silena Beauregard by my side. We were walking for about twenty minutes now when she suddenly took my hand and lead me down another path.

"Wait what are you doing? The orphanage is that way. That path takes you north" I asked her. She looked at me with sympathy, making my insides quite uneasy.

"Well, Jagger" she began and kept leading me that way, "I told you I would explain everything, and I intend to keep my promise. Right now we are going to Camp Half-Blood, a special camp with people like us"

"What do you mean like us?" I asked obviously confused

"What do you know about the Greek Gods?" she instead asked me back. Honestly, why can't I ever get a straight answer? Like damn, sometimes you ask a girl if they like you and they take it as if you like them. No, I just wanted to ask if you liked me so I could stop talking to you with a valid reason.

"Seriously Beauregard, we just took a class on them"

"Well, you may not believe me, but those 'myths'" she said using the air quotes "are actually true. You, my dear friend, are a demigod, child of a god/goddess and a mortal. That is the reason you have ADHD and dyslexia. The dyslexia is due to the fact that our brains are hardwired into ancient Greek, and the ADHD comes from our battle reflexes." That was the craziest thing I've heard in my life. Crazier than when the bible said 'I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved' in Genesis 32:30, but then said 'No man hath seen God at any time' in John 1:18. Crazier than people believing the Earth is flat. Crazier than the girls who think they'll end up marrying me.

"What drugs are you taking? It can't be acid or cocaine, it doesn't look like heroin. Maybe percocet?" I asked her

"What the hell dude no. I swear all I said is true"

"Prove it" I challenged her

"Fine. Grab a stick and write in the ground 'I am a stupid boy'" she commanded me. Suddenly, I felt myself lose control of my own body, like if it was on autopilot. My body went and grabbed a stick, but I quickly got my senses back. I was on high alert, knowing that this girl could be dangerous. I bent down on the ground next to Silena and slowly wrote something.

"I am a stupid girl -Silena," she said clearly surprised by what I wrote "I don't understand, nobody has been able to resist my charmspeak"

"Well there's always a first time for everything," I said winking at her. I turned around and started walking towards the orphanage. I felt my hand being taken strongly, so I turned around again and found Silena looking at me with some kind of pity.

"What, "I said clearly irritated "can't I just go home and forget all that you've told me?" I said as I shook her off and continued walking towards my home

"If you continue to the orphanage you'll be putting all of them in danger" I turned to be facing her, but still kept walking home

"Well too bad, because frankly, I don't really care. I just want you to get away from me" I told her as calmly as possible as I took my leave. I walked for about a mile when suddenly I got a strong feeling that something was wrong. I trusted my instincts, running towards the orphanage, running as fast as possible, running through people, running through the roads, everything I could do to get to my home faster. When I got there, I saw that the house was on fire, with the firefighters already there. I saw them taking out some bodies and I quickly thought the worst.

Just this morning, almost every kid, with the exception of me, got diagnosed with chicken pox. because of this, everyone stayed home for the day. This was pretty common actually, I have yet to recall just one day when I have been sick.

I saw the firefighters extinguish the fire and take out the bodies. In total there were ten bodies, all covered in a white sheet that is placed on dead people. I sense of dreadfulness came upon me and I slowly walked towards the sheriff, who had just arrived at the scene.

"Excuse me, Mr. Norman, do you know what happened?" I asked the sheriff timidly. Not that I was intimidated or scared of the sheriff, but rather scared of the news he had. He turned around and when he saw me, he put his most sympathetic look.

"Ah, Jagger, glad you could come so quickly. There is a really easy way to tell you this. There was a fire and unfortunately, everyone in the house has passed away. The reason for the fire is unknown but the property damage is irreversible. I'm really sorry sport, if you want you can stay at my house while we figure everything out." Sheriff Norman said in his thick southern accent. I couldn't believe what I've just heard. My whole life had just been burned before my eyes. No longer did I have my home, no longer did I have my family. Now it was all me against the world, no family or someone to be myself with.

Do you know when people say 'think before you act'? Well, you really should. Because what happened next could've been so easily avoided.

I started running without a path. Just wanted to get away from my home, from everyone that was going to give me that sympathy looks. I have just lost my home, the place I belonged. I've lost everything and everyone I have ever and will ever love, my only true family.

I noticed I had been running for several hours now when the full moon started to rise. It was cool that the moon lighted up the night sky, but it also made me quite uneasy for some unknown reason. I just kept walking, unsure if I was still in almost heaven (West Virginia) when I heard a wolf cry. Following the cry of the first wolf, about another eleven wolves cried a the same time, signaling the start of their hunt. It was weird, there aren't supposed to be wolves in this part of the country. I suddenly heard a twig snap on my left side. I turned to the place and there I saw a wolf, only this wolf was two times bigger than normal ones and had his eyes penetrating mine. As soon as I could catch my breath, I was surrounded by twelve wolves, each bigger than the next one, all bigger than normal wolves.

"Well well well look who we have here. It seems we have ourselves fresh demigod meat. Wait, smell him. The first of his kind we will ever get to eat, so enjoy my friends. Today, when the moon is highest we are strongest." the wolves kept looking at me with hunger. They drooled all over themselves. They could use a little lesson on manners.

"Just get over it. All I have is literally a silver knife here. Not like I can do much, but then again, I would like to die fighting. So come on, because I have the eye of the tiger, and it's the thrill of the fight" I said cockily, which only made them angrier.

The smallest wolf attacked me first, trying to attack me by my right side. Thankfully, all the Krav Maga I've practiced during the years has given me an advantage. With my fast reflexes, I quickly moved to my left, kicked the wolf and stabbed it in the heart, easily and effectively killing him. Next came two wolves at the same time. The two came running at a fast speed towards me, but I just stabbed one in the eye, used him as leverage to get up the other one and stab it in the head. Then, the one that was left with only one eye came running towards me, but I just easily did a 360˚turn to my right side and stabbed it in the back. While he screamed in agony I just pulled out my knife and stabbed it in the back, right where his vertebrae are, completely paralyzing him from the waist down for life. I did that many times until there was only the alpha left. I was ready to counteract an attack when he suddenly started talking to me.

"You could be of great use, so I will do you a favor and not kill you. If you ever need anything, just contact me through an iris message. My name is Lycaon. Remember, anything you need I will come to your aid. You have proven yourself worthy of it" and just as fast as he said that he disappeared as if he was never there.

"Well that was weird," I said to myself

"Indeed. So are you ready for Camp?" Silena said out of nowhere. After just being attacked by eleven giant wolves, Silena always knowing where I was didn't seem as weird as before

"Yeah sure, let's go. And on the way maybe we can get to know each other"

"I'd like that Bucky"


	3. Country roads take me home

So it turns out the walk from West Virginia to New York is longer than I thought.

We were walking for like six hours and, from what Silena told me, we were only in Pennsylvania. Just about two states to go. Only two states.

We were walking through the woods (because apparently, the only woods giant corporations want to tear down is the Amazon rainforest) with no end in sight. I was already tired, wishing just to go home as I remembered that I had no home. The only substitute would be this apparent camp all the way in New York, but even then I don't know if I would like it. All my life I have lived in a small town where I could do whatever I wished, walk anywhere, talk to anyone, etc. But by what Silena tells me, Camp Half-Blood was nothing like that.

First of all, we were going to train how to survive using weapons. Bows and arrows I didn't mind because I was the state champion, but swords and spears are another story. Second, we couldn't go out of camp if we wanted, just in a quest (where we could die) or if you escaped (where you could also die). Third and worst of all, apparently gods had rivalries. So, if my godly parent was let's say Poseidon, then the other two eldest gods plus Athena would want to kill me. And not only that, their children would hate me which would limit the capacity of friends I could make.

To put it in simple words, gone are the days where I could walk freely through the woods and then run to the top of a hill. Gone are the days where I could talk to whoever I wanted. Gone are the days where I could just practice archery without thinking_ 'I need to do this perfectly in case a monster comes and want to eat me_'.

Another hour passed and I couldn't deal with breathing anymore. Thankfully, Silena also seemed super tired so we decided to make a mini campsite and sleep there for the remainder of the night. The temperature was chill, about 65 degrees, but nothing our clothes couldn't manage. While Silena scouted the place for possible attacks, I went to find firewood so we could be at least a little warm. I quickly found it and made my way to the campsite, where I found Silena patiently waiting for me.

"Took you long enough," Silena said rolling her eyes "I was already thinking of going after you"

"I didn't take that long," I said chuckling, making my way to her side.

I put the firewood on the 'center' of the campsite and Silena turned the fire on with a lighter/knife/spoon/rope? It was like a swiss-army knife but with many other things. She told me a friend of hers named Charles Beckendorf made it for her. Apparently, he was a son of Hephaestus and had a keen attraction to making stuff.

"So, who's your godly parent?" I asked breaking the ever so growing uncomfortable silence that was cast upon us

"Aphrodite, the Goddess of love and other things I don't really want to say because she's my mom"

I quickly remembered from the lesson that Aphrodite was also the goddess of Pleasure, passion, and procreation. So it basically meant that Silena's mom was a sex goddess.

"It must be awkward to talk to her," I said trying to make a little joke, but then I found out that it quickly backfired. Her little trace of a smile disappeared completely and her eyes seemed filled with much sadness.

"We demigods don't talk to our parents. Unless he or she comes to your dreams or you have the luck of Columbus then you will most likely never meet your parent. Some gods are good and visit their kids individually through their dreams. Other gods actually care but are just really busy and don't have the time for their children. Then there is the third kind of gods. The ones who actually don't give two rats ass about us, are just out there making more demigods without thinking the horrible life we have ahead of us."

I had no need to ask which category Aphrodite fit in. The scowl Silena made as she described the third kind of God told me all about it. I couldn't help but wonder which category my godly parent fit in. Did it care about me? Did it remember it had me?

"Who do you think is my godly parent?" I asked Silena in a low tone of voice. She turned her head to look at me in the eyes, possibly recalling all the incidents we have had over the course of the day. After about two minutes of silence, I cleared my throat to remind her that I needed a reply. She shook her head out a little and replied.

"I honestly have no idea. And if I knew 100% then I couldn't tell you. But what I've seen, I can tell you are very powerful, so you're not a child of a minor god. Definitely not a child of Dionysius, Artemis or Demeter. You can fight well which could make you a child of Ares, but you're also smart so you can be a child of Athena. You could be a child of Apollo because, based on what you told me, you're pretty good at archery right?" I nodded "You could be a child of Aphrodite as you are quite good looking and could block my charmspeak, even if I haven't known of anyone who could do that. I don't think you would be a Hermes child because we both know how long it took you to get firewood, so you're definitely not fast. The Big three are not an option because they made an oath to not have any more demigods after WWII" I took that information in and it was a pretty good analysis.

We sat there in a comfortable silence for about fifteen minutes when I yawned as loudly as humanly possible. I felt really tired and kind of warm, which was weird considering the temperature. We both fell asleep close to the fire, laying on the ground with nothing but our bodies and few supplies to give us company.

I woke up as the moon was setting, earlier than I had hoped to. Waking up that early has really no great advantage, as I know I would likely be irritable for the rest of the day. I poked Silena until she woke up and groaned in annoyance.

"Time to wake up bae," I said in a sickly sweet voice

"I'm not your bae," Silena said rubbing her blue eyes awake

"Yet," I said winking at her, which she replied by rolling her eyes and groaning once again.

"Yeah yeah, Casanova. Changing the topic, let's leave now that we're both awake, that way we can hopefully reach camp without any monster attacks"

"Fine," I said getting up from my sitting position.

Several hours passed, maybe about ten when Silena finally said we were arriving. We had only eaten about three squirrels each thanks to my awesome archery skills (in my defense, I had to make a bow and arrow so six squirrels is an achievement). Walking through a strawberry field, I could sense a change of aura in Silena's mood. She was more at peace, but at the same time anxious. The reason? Only God knows. Wait, does God exist? Apparently, all Greek mythology existed, but what about other religions and mythologies? Did they also exist or only the Greeks? I need to find someone to talk to about that. That was way out of topic, stupid ADHD.

We walked up a hill, past a strawberry field when I saw the biggest pine tree I've ever seen in my life, and I'm from West Virginia. We walked past it and it was like we walked through a border. I felt Silena by my side more at ease, and with a happier demeanor. I, being me, started singing to pass my stress.

"Almost heaven, West Virginia

Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River" I started singing Country Roads, my favorite song when Silena suddenly stopped abruptly and turned to me

"Stop it," she said sternly, her blue eyes penetrating mine "You sang it all the way here and if you sing one more verse I'm going to kill you and then kill myself"

Now, you would think that I, a pretty mature twelve-year-old would've taken her seriously. But guess what I did.

"Life is old there, older than the trees  
Younger than the mountains, blowing like a breeze

Country Roads, take me home" I started singing, but I couldn't get past the start of the chorus because I felt a punch make contact with my face. I looked at my assaulter and it was Silena, but with her face all red and basically steams coming out of her eyes

"To the place, I belong" I continued, daring her to continue her assault. She had no mercy and continued to throw punches at me, which I easily evaded. We kept 'fighting' until we were at a clearing and a bunch of other teenagers were looking at us with surprise on their faces

"Come on bae, take me home to the place I belong" I tempeted her. Then, out of nowhere, she got a bronze knife and lunged towards me. My eyes went wide, which made me lose a fraction of a second and she was able to make a scratch on my arm.

"Ouch, that hurt a little," I said obviously surprised "Bae, stop this. You know I can't hit a pretty girl like you"

This just made her angrier, which was just what I wanted. She came towards me, but I just moved a little to the side, grab her by the neck with my arm and disarmed her. She seemed to calm down, which let my guard down. In the next five seconds, she bit my fingers really hard (making blood come out of them), kicked me down, kicked my balls, went on top of me and just started punching me as if I was someone who just kidnapped her daughter and sold her into the black market.

"Silena that's enough!" someone yelled from about forty feet away. I heard a horse galloping towards us and some kids also coming closer to the scene. Silena got off of me and looked towards the direction of the galloping horse, her body showing a scared pose. I slowly got up, with my bloody face blurring my vision and my yet recovering balls stopping me from being fully erect (as in standing up, but the other way too tho). I saw the horse with a man on top of it, but looking at it closely it was a

"A centaur? Oh wait, you're-Jesus Christ this hurts like hell-Chiron right?" I asked in a hushed tone. The centaur looked at me and gave me a small smile

"Indeed my child. I am Chiron, the trainer of heroes. Now, Silena" he turned his head towards the scared girl "for what reason did you start a fight with this innocent child. Surely..."

"Jagger, Jagger Buckley," I said as I took the hint that he wanted to know my name. His eyes widened a little when I said it, but it was only noticeable for someone who was paying complete attention to his face

"Surely young Jagger couldn't have done something so wrong as to make you act this way" I honestly wanted to mess with Silena for beating me up. Well, she could've beat me up, but it's unconstitutional and inmoral to hit a guy in his balls without a strong reason for it.

"I wasn't! I was just signing and then she started attacking me like a bear does to a hunter! She didn't take into consideration that the song meaning is of going back home, when I just recently lost my home. My home was the only place I belonged, mountain mama. (great, bullshitting my way into Silena getting a harder punishment) She knew I will no longer get back home, yet SHE "I pointed my finger at her" decided that the best course of action for making me stop was beating me up"

"You are such a liar! I ought to b-" Silena started to threaten me

"Enough!" Chiron yelled "Now, Silena my child. Is it or is it not true that Mr. Buckley here was signing" she nodded "Is it true that he recently lost his home?" she nodded again "Is it true he's from West Virginia?" she nodded yet again

"Wait I never said I was from there" I interrupted

"I know much about you Jagger Buckley, I will tell you all in due time. Now, Silena. Go to the big house while I think of a proper punishment" Silena turned away, but not before glancing at me while I stuck out my tongue at her. She looked angrily at me and walked towards a big blue house.

"Now Jagger, I believe you are due a proper introduction. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood"


	4. some 12 year-old presents

Chiron was the type of guy (technically centaur) who you could have a proper conversation with. After he presented Camp Half-Blood by literally saying "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood" (or something along those words) he beckoned me to follow his trail. I was hot on his heels considering that I was just beat to almost unconscious by Silena.

On our way, many other teenagers were looking at me with curiosity. I mean, looking at it from their perspective it must be a little weird. Imagine, you're a camper here, you know everyone and then suddenly out of nowhere, that Aphrodite girl came back with a guy you don't know and she started beating the devil out of him. Of course, you would be curious as to who the hell is the guy. Even I don't know who I am!

We entered the Big House, which contained about four floors more or less. I followed Chiron into a room where a fat guy with leopard print shirt and purple pants sat with cards on his hands. On the table sat a half-empty diet Coke, some empty cans and a magazine that read "Wine Enthusiast Weekly". The guy seemed to have a powerful aura, but also seemed lazy so he didn't pose any immediate threat.

"Jagger, this is Mr. D, the camp director. Mr. D this is Jagger Buckley, a new camper" I simply nodded. Mr. D, on the other hand, let out a loud sigh and put his cards down. He looked at me with so much annoyance I thought he was going to make me disappear right then and there.

"Great, another brat!" Mr. D said sarcastically

"Great, another adult who doesn't care about kids. You should go to work at a school, you could pass for a PE teacher" I told him

Mr. D's face turned redder than a chili. He glared at me with so much hate that I almost regretted what I said to him.

"Listen Jesper Budding, you better learn to respect a god. Others would not hesitate to kill you where you stand" Mr. D said in a serious note, making no room for jokes or arguments.

Wait a minute...respect a god? Mr. D...reading wine magazines...lazy...this could only mean one thing.

"You're Lord Dionysius aren't you?" I said in a low but confident voice

"Finally, a brat who gets who I am. Hopefully there will be no need to turn him into a dolphin. I'll be nice to you and try to learn your name. It's Jesper Budding right?"

"Jagger Buckley"

"Now, Mr. D" Chiron interrupted "I have some personal manners I wish to discuss with young Jagger here. Do you think you could leave me and the child alone for a few minutes?"

"This is bull- yeah ok I'll leave, but make sure you're fast. I don't want to wait to play my game any longer" Dionysus took his leave from the room and closed the door, letting me alone with Chiron.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. The room suddenly became more habitable as to say, the sun light shone more brightly, the air felt lighter and I felt as I could inspect the room for possible escapes.

That's just something I've always liked to do. Wherever I'm in a close space, I like to look for ways to escape in case of an emergency. For example, right nor I could go through the window and run about 200m towards the woods. I could also jump on the table, punch the ceiling (it had a little hole in it that could break with the smallest effort) and go from there. Then there is the easiest one that would be escaping through the main door, but that could resort in many problems.

What was I talking about before? I was alone with Chiron the centaur right.

"So, how do you know who I am?" I asked breaking the ice while simultaneously asking what I had in the back of my mind since he said I was from West Virginia.

"Well Jagger. The story of your birth isn't one that many would like to hear. You see, almost every demigod here was born because their parents love each other or they-how can I put this gently- had a night of passion. I assume you do know how babies are made"

"Yes, there's a girl in my class already pregnant. If you ask me she's way too young. Like, I get it if you like guys or girls or whatever, but she's 12! At least wait a couple of years until you know who you want to be with. It's just plain irresponsible on her and the guys part" I started ranting about the topic. Sure, I am what Britney Spears would call a womanizer, but it doesn't mean I'm okay with girls 12 years old to do stuff. In fact, the most I've done with a 12 year old is make out, but everything other than that it was always someone older than me. Why am I getting so off topic lately? Right, don't have my ADHD pills anymore.

"Okay well...so you do know how babies are made" I nodded "Great. Now you see, your conception was like a glitch of the universe. Of course there were all the steps necessary for a conception, but there were also some abnormalities. Unfortunately I'm not the one you should go to for these details. What I can tell you though is, how I know who you are"

"Well yeah that's all I ask"

"Your godly parent came to Camp Half-Blood as soon as you were given to the orphanage. Your parent then gave me these two charms that one day I should give to you" he said pulling out a necklace and a hoodie. I took both of them in my arms and inspected them thoroughly.

The necklace was a silver chain, but not one of those really big ones. It was big enough to be noticed, but not so big so that it looked bad. When I put it on, the chain glowed a little.

"Go on, pull it like you're going to break it" Chiron instructed me. I did just that but instead of the necklace breaking, it just turned into a bow and quiver. How it did so is the mystery of the century, but who am I to judge in this great world with apparent gods. The bow was well well balanced and the quiver of arrows was a good weight, great for being able to move at fast rates and maneuver. The grip of the bow fit perfectly in my hand. I was so amazed by this new bow that I could've stayed studying it for hours. Sure, it wasn't a compound bow like the ones I used in competitions, but it felt better as simple as it was.

"Now check the hoodie Jagger" Chiron said. The hoodie by itself looked pretty normal, and kind of cool actually. The colors changed depending on where I put it, but there was a clear message written: "_Ta agória tha eínai agória, tóte tha eímai ándras_"

"'_Boys will be boys', then I'll have to be a man_" I translated quickly "Why does the message has to be so gay? Like no offense, but it's really gay. Do I have to wear it?" I asked Chiron and chuckled slightly

"Put it on and see for yourself what it can do" I looked at him weirdly and put the hoodie on. I saw how I could no longer differentiate between me and the room it's like-

"Camouflage" I said impressed. I focused on the hoodie and suddenly it turned to a white adidas hoodie. Unfortunately, the lame message was stuck on the hoodie on one of the arms.

"So this is cool. Anything else you might need to tell me about where I come from?" I asked Chiron

"Yes, two things in fact. First of all, your parent is going to be claiming you soon. Probably in a couple of days, a week at most"

"How do I know if I've been claimed?"

"Trust me, you'll know" Chiron said wisely. I hate when people do that. Like when I ask if I can go to the bathroom and the teacher says 'I don't know, can you?' I mean, you know what I meant. If you don't know what I meant, then how can you be my teacher?! Seriously, every time I'm peeing myself or almost shitting myself, the teacher pulls that card. On day I'm going to pee on them. That is, IF I ever return back to school.

"The second thing is your name. Jagger Buckley, why did you change your name?" Chiron asked me. My face turned into one of panic. Jagger Buckley has been my name since I changed it because I hated my old name. But now, the name of the past is coming back"

"I hated it. Simple as that"

"Well, if you are curious about who your parent might be, look at your old name Jagger, or may I say, Huntley A. Arc"

"Don't say that, I hate it. Huntley is a nerds name. The A stands for Artem which is short for Artemos who is a freaking senator and there's nothing lamer than that. Arc reminds me of Joan of Arc, who was on drugs or something thinking she could talk to angels and she died burnt at the stake! I don't want to be associated with that. Jagger Buckley is so much better and I shall be known as that. So please don't use my old name"

"Alright, I won't. Just remember, your old name contains the answers you're seeking" he said again mysteriously.

Just then a hunting horn and many people running outside was heard. Chiron's eyes widened the size of dinner plates.

"The Hunters, what are they doing here?"


	5. saw some silver underwear

When I was little, I loved to go to the library and attempt to read a book. Then, when someone took pity on me, they would read it to me. The book I've always loved was one about Atalanta or Atlanta, an Ancient Greek hunter that later got married. She was abandoned when she was young and raised by a bear until Artemis found her and she became part of the hunters of Artemis.

The hunters of Artemis always seemed really awesome in my opinion. Only hunting all day and basically running away from every guy that wanted to court them (or basically rape them). But, contrary to my book, the Hunters were not so innocent.

If looks could kill, there wouldn't be a male standing right now. They were all around 10-14-year-olds, but they glared like they were a thousand at the least. I could see malice in their eyes like they were just dying to castrate each one of us slowly.

"Greeting Hunters. May I ask why you are with us today?" Chiron asked in a respectful tone

"Well centaur, my lady went to Olympus because of an urgent matter that shall be resolved in a few days. According to her, we would be safer with thou. We will be using the Artemis cabin as usual." A girl with black hair and a circlet said in a pompous tone that really didn't sit well with me. She had copper skin and looked like a Persian princess.

"Follow me, Hunters," said the same girl.

Everyone parted ways like the Red River did with Moses. Was it the Red River? I don't remember well but you know what I mean. Every guy avoided their eyes and every girl looked at them with distaste.

"Why do they have to be such bitches?" I asked Silena really loudly.

Why did I do that? Mainly two reasons.

First, I needed to express my question to someone I knew kind of well, and Silena was currently at least 50 feet from me.

Second, I wanted them to hear me in order to make a point. You see, I have never been one to talk about people behind their back. If I hate someone, I will tell them. If I like someone, I would be upfront. The only exception is when I'm flirting because it's common sense not to reveal your real intentions, you know?

Apparently, the Hunters of Artemis didn't take kindly my comment and, as if on a telepathic order, they all stopped and looked at me right in the eyes. I could feel everyone around me backing away from the perimeter.

"What did thy say _boy_?" The same Persian girl asked me daringly.

"Nothing much. I just asked why thy are oh so bitchy" I replied imitating my best Shakespearean accent.

Needless to say, that was not the right thing to say.

In such a short time there were at least 24 arrows aimed at me. The girl with the circlet, apparently their leader, took out a hunting knife. She started twisting it like the bad guys in any 80's-90's action movie.

I felt the color drain from my body. I could also sense that the only person attempting to get closer to me was my dear friend Beauregard. The started speed-walking towards me and took my arm. She tried to pull me away from the scene but I didn't budge.

"Come on Bucky, don't be such an asshole. There's no reason to pick two fights on your first day. Plus, if you do start a fight with them, you'll probably end up without your manly part"

"Yeah, listen to the Aphrodite whore," the circlet girl said

"Don't call her a whore you overgrown ferret" great insult, I know. But at times like this, I tend to not think about what I say and just follow my instinct.

Of course, most of the time my instinct ends up wanting to kill me.

The girl with the circlet glared at me like she wanted to vaporize me. I tried to take off running but before I could get far I was attacked. The rest of the girls shot their arrows at me and the circlet girl ran to me with her hunting knife in hand. Only around four arrows found space on my body to embed themselves in. One of them on my left forearm, one of them on my shoulder. Not so bad to be honest.

But the other two found a place on my butt. And they hurt like hell.

I tried to outrun the hunters but to no avail. I was running at half my normal speed while the hunters were running at twice the speed of a normal person.

Imagine if you will, a race between a person weighing 500 lbs. vs Usain Bolt. That was basically what was happening. And, to no surprise, the circlet girl won the race and pushed me down. Then, she started kicking me on my sides.

In any normal situation, I could've gotten out of this, but I had two arrows on my butts and one on my shoulder. So, I did the only thing I could think of that would've bought me time.

I pulled her pants down.

Thankfully her panties didn't come down also, but still. I think a normal person wouldn't like to be in their underwear in front of many people. Much less a hunter.

This action bought me the time necessary to run and "hide" behind Chiron.

The circlet girl quickly pulled up her pants and ran towards me with a really scary glare. I unconsciously started trembling behind Chiron, which wasn't unnoticed by the girl.

"Well look who's scared of a girl now," said the girl

"I think you meant 'overgrown ferret'" I replied

"Jagger that's enough! Miss Nightshade go to the Artemis cabin with all the hunters" Chiron ordered

"You can't talk to me like that centaur" Nightshade said

"Watch your tone girl. You may be Artemis lieutenant but I'm still in charge of this camp. Now go to the Artemis cabin, settle down and go out to train. And keep out of fights!" Chiron said in a harsh tone that I couldn't believe he had. Granted I had just known him today, but still.

Nightshade glared at Chiron, then at me. She turned to the hunters, ordered them to follow her, and began to walk away. All of the hunters looked at me with so much hate I genuinely thought they were going to kill me in my sleep that night.

Some Apollo kid came and helped me walk towards the infirmary. Once there, he paid me on my chest and began to pull the arrows out.

To say that it hurt would be the understatement of the millennia.

I don't know what those arrows had in them or what they were made of, but Jesus Christ did it hurt.

The Apollo kid rubbed something on my injuries and soon enough the pain ceased to exist. Then, he gave me like a pudding that tasted like mint chocolate chip ice cream. Soon enough I was good to move and everything, just a few bandages for my wounds.

"Well, you've certainly have made a name for yourself Jagger. Only one day in and already have had two fights." The kid said

"Yeah well, she had it coming. I just wish I could've beaten her up"

"Well she's a tough one and you're lucky to still have your part with you," he said pointing at my groin

"Yeah well, what can I tell you. People like her should be put in their place. Anyways what's your name?"

"I'm Will Solace," said the kid. He was around eight years old and had blonde hair. He looked like he could be my brother based on his facial structure and eyes.

"I'm Jagger Buckley," I said sitting up. I was much better, to be honest, but the injuries still hurt a little. He gave me some crutches because my butt still wasn't able to move much. We went out and noticed that the sun was setting.

"Come on, let's go to the Dining Pavilion," Will said to me and beckoned me to follow him.

When we entered, everyone looked at me. It reminded me of my time at school when everyone looked at me the second I walked in. About three seconds passed when suddenly the whole pavilion broke in applauses, everyone except the hunters who just glared at me. I grinned a little and slowly made my way to the Hermes table, where apparently all undetermined campers should go. Before I could sit down, a hand touched my shoulder.

I turned around and saw Silena with an apologetic look on her face.

"Hey Bucky, sorry for beating you up before. You got on my nerves but I should've handled that better. And thanks for sticking up for me before," she said with honestly flowing with her every word

"No problem bae. You know I'll always have you back" I winked at her. To my surprise, she didn't hit me or anything. She actually blushed a little and replied with a smile.

"Don't call me that" and she turned away towards what I could only assume is the Aphrodite table. All the girls on that table were hot and were looking at me with begging eyes.

'It seems it won't be a bad life here on out' i thought to myself smirking at the Aphrodite girls

"Well, it looks like we have our new celebrity. Determined or undetermined?" a blonde guy with a scar on his face asked

"Undetermined. And I don't think I'll be determined any time soon"

"Why do you say that?"

"Just a gut feeling," I shrugged "anyways my name is Jagger Buckley. What's yours?"

"Luke Castellan, counselor of the Hermes cabin. I heard that today is your new day, so I'll help you get settled down" he said with a small smile.

He told me that I could just think of what I wanted to eat and the nymphs would just create it, or something like that. I got my steak with mac & cheese, which looked absolutely delicious. As soon as I was going to put a piece of that medium rare steak in my mouth, Luke told me that I should go to a bonfire and sacrifice the BEST PART OF MY MEAL to my godly parent, or in this case the gods. Unfortunately, I had no choice but to do it, so I went to sacrifice my meal.

On my way back to the Hermes table, a foot was set to trip me. Instead, I just 'stabbed' it with my crutches and, surprise surprise, it turns out Nightshade put the foot there.

"And the Cumwad strikes again. Are you like in love with me or something that you can't let me pass by your side without wanting my attention. Relax, I'll stay here as long as you need, just let me eat my food and I'll be waiting for you after" I told her winking and grinning. By the time I said Cumwad, the entire pavilion stopped eating and stared at me in disbelief.

"Boy! If thou ever come one foot close to me I will castrate you faster than you can say 'ouch'. Understand?" Nightshade said

"Don't worry, I wouldn't be close to someone like you. I mean, it's great that you beg for my attention but unfortunately I'm not a furry, and I don't dig ferrets" I said to her and took my leave. I could sense it took a couple of hunters to keep her on her seat while she tried to kill me. I sat down on my tables and everyone looked at me like I had grown a third eye.

"What? Is there something on my shirt?" I asked

"Nobody has been able to stand up to Zoë Nightshade before. How did you do that?" asked a kid with a trouble-maker look

"I don't know, people with such a big attitude just don't do it to me anymore. Plus, I've faced far worse when I told a girl I wasn't looking for anything serious" I said shrugging

We all proceeded to eat calmly. The steak was incredible and so was the mac & cheese. Suddenly, Chiron hit the floor with his horse leg and we all paid attention to his announcement.

"Campers! As is tradition we will have our Capture the flag game tomorrow against the Hunters of Artemis. I hope you will all behave" he said looking at me" and not cause any trouble."

Honestly, I just hope I don't die before I know who my parent is.


	6. cabins got burnt

There is a saying that intelligence isn't the same as wisdom. That the difference is that intelligence is your capacity to learn while wisdom comes from experience.

Well, I can confidently say that, with the experiences I have gone through this past hours, I have enough wisdom to say that I am certainly not a son of Hermes. As soon as I entered the cabin, a bucket filled with red paint was dropped on me. Just like that scene in Carrie.

Luckily, I found a place on a bunk because most of the campers were at their homes, but by what Luke and the Stolls tell me (both Hermes campers), the cabin is usually packed because of undetermined demigods. It seems really stupid in my opinion that there are four cabins that don't have any campers but there is still a cabin with people apparently sleeping on the floor. I mean, can't Zeus, Hera, Poseidon and Artemis make space for some stray demigods? That way we all feel appreciated and not like crap with our parents abandoning us. Or at least, let the minor gods have their own cabin. I mean seriously, I've been here a day and already have plans on how to improve this.

That night I had a very livid dream. I was in a forest and next to me was a guy with dark blonde hair and blue eyes. He was pretty tall and lean built, wore simple jeans and shirt with some gay boots. Not that the boots themselves were gay, just that they seemed way too stylish to be used in a forest.

Near us was a girl, about eighteen or nineteen maybe. She seemed unaware that the guy was eyeing her with lustful eyes. I immediately knew what was going to happen to the girl, so I tried to warn her.

"Hey! Girl get out of here!" I yelled at the girl, but she didn't seem to notice my presence. The guy then ran stealthily towards the girl and was able to knock her out with a simple glow in his hand and a hit on her neck. The girl dropped to the floor and I could see her face much better. She was really pretty, with wide eyes, a medium size nose and fair skin that complemented her features.

Don't get me wrong, I think that everyone (well not everyone) is beautiful, no matter if you're black, white, Indian, yellow, a rainbow, I don't care. Point is, this girl was really pretty and I immediately felt sick about what was going to happen.

For about fifteen minutes I hate to witness a rape. Not a pretty sight, not something I would ever want to watch again (no matter how much of a kink I have for that, watching it "in real life" was very different than watching actors). After the guy finished, he looked at girl with a look that basically said 'good job' and took off.

When the girl woke up, she looked startled and very weak. She started crying and I immediately wanted to go and help her. I went beside her and tried to hug her, but my hands just passed right through her.

I woke up startled from that dream. The sun was barely rising, and nobody from the cabin was awake. I got off my top bunk, went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth with some spare toothbrush (they told me it didn't belong to anybody) and went out. On the top of the hill sat about ten campers, the youngest from about six while the oldest was about 17. I jogged to their way when I saw that they were the Apollo campers.

"Umm hey? What are you guys doing here so early?" I asked awkwardly

"Jagger! I could ask you the same thing" said a kid I think that's named Lee "we are here to watch the sunrise. As you know, that is our dad pulling the sun. We always wake up early. Why are you up so early tho?"

"I've been waking up when the sun rises and the moon sets lately. I have no idea why really" I said, taking my seat beside Will

We sat there watching the sun rise for about ten minutes. It was an incredible sight I'll give you that, but not something I would like to do every day. I talked with the kids about lots of stuff, like schools, favorite songs, hometowns, age, mortal parent, etc. Then they asked me about me, to which I told them that I came from Shepherdstown in West Virginia, that my favorite song was Country Roads, that I was 12, that I was an orphan and stuff like that. They seemed really impressed when I told them I was the state champion of Archery and karate and my other accomplishments.

For the first time since I had arrived, I felt like I had a family again. Who would've said that I had so much in common with Apollo kids.

I had almost completely forgotten the newly found feud with the hunters. It was reminded the moment I waked into the dining pavilion. Instead of being greeted by looks, I was greeted by some arrows in my leg. I seriously need to find what those arrows are made up because they hurt way too much.

"Jesús Christ! It's like seven in the morning, please! If you need to shoot me do it after nine after I've had my breakfast!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, harder than I intended to. Not my fault tho, that hurt like hell.

I limped my way around for about an hour, which wasn't really pleasant when you need to drop things in a fire and give it to some random god.

Will Solace could quickly heal me (thanks to the heavens) and I spent the entire day hiding from the hunters. At least trying to.

Turns out the hunters either like every activity I was interested in or, another and more probable possibility, they wanted to make my life a living hell.

First was archery, where I took out my neck bow and started shooting really fast, all arrows landing on the bullseye. Lee and Michael Yew were really impressed with my skills, saying that no mortal school could've taught me to be that good. When I told them that I never took a class, they insisted that I was a child of Apollo. It was really probable thinking about it.

Unfortunately, the hunters weren't so accepting on my talent. The one called Zoë, or as I like to call her 'overgrown ferret' and another girl started to accuse me of cheating. First it was because of the target because "it was way too close". Then, when I proved them wrong, it was because of my bow. I took the worst bow I could find and fired an arrow. The arrow hit the bullseye and, soon after it landed, the bow literally broke. After they were proven wrong, they just left the archery range, leaving me and the Apollo campers laughing our asses off.

Next was knife combat with the Athena cabin, well more specifically Annabeth Chase. She taught us the basics and left the rest of the hour to find a partner and spar. I looked over to an Aphrodite camper and winked at her, making her blush. I started to walk towards her and ask her to friendly soar when suddenly, a hunter stood in front of me. And which hunter was it? You probably guessed it...

Zoë Nightshade, my future wife.

I'm not going to bore you with the details of my fight with her, but let's just say that I destroyed her 'trash talk' and did the same with her fighting. It was like an unknown force took over me and made me follow all my instincts like an animal would.

The next few weeks were pretty uneventful really. We lost in capture the flag because of an honestly bad strategy in part of the Athena cabin. I tried to help but I had no voice because I was new, but oh well.

The thing that stood out the most was when I was almost castrated. Although, I actually did deserve that one to be honest.

So I made a bet with the Stolls that consisted in me stealing an underwear of one hunter. So, in order to do that, I had to enter the Artemis cabin when the hunters weren't there and steal something.

I went in stealthily, watching if any hunters were there and quickly stole a bra and a panty from Zoë's drawer. I quickly went out of the pretty Artemis cabin and entered the chaotic Hermes cabin. I cleared my throat to make everyone pay attention to me.

"Dear cabin mates. There are three events in history that changed the history of mankind forever. The first was the start of agriculture. The second was the "discovery" of the Americas. The third event was just made today. It signifies the end of a reign of terror, the start of us being more confident, the start of us mortal demigods to show those inmortals what we're really made of. Next time anybody tells you that you are too little, you just say 'size doesn't matter, just ask your mother', anytime people tell you you aren't enough, know that that is not true. We may have lost Capture the Flag, but we recovered stronger and stole their dignity!" I said the last part showing the underwear set. Cheers from all over the cabin we're heard and I have never felt so powerful.

Next thing I knew, the hunters burned half the cabins and almost castrated me if it wasn't for Mr. D stopping them.

About two months passed when the guy that would change history forever arrived. A guy by the name of _Percy Jackson_...


	7. A bear that talks

Have you ever wondered how normal people woke up on an important date? Like, how would the average Japanese person from Hiroshima woke up before an atomic bomb was dropped? I always assumed they woke up like any other day, having their normal lives when suddenly everything changed. The weird part is, that's not how I felt at all the day Percy Jackson arrived at camp.

I had been here at Camp Half-Blood for about two months with the same daily routine. First I woke up, went to talk with the Apollo campers, then I went to eat and then I went to train. To say that I didn't feel claustrophobic would be a lie comparable to when Hitler said he wouldn't invade Checoslovakia. Two completely obvious lies.

You see, down in Shepherdstown I was always running around and going anywhere I wanted. I had the freedom to do anything I wanted and, to some extent, I overused that freedom. I am not going to go into the details but let's just say that it is one of the first signs that someone is a serial killer. I keep getting out of track, sorry for my bad ADHD.

Anyways, the day Percy Jackson arrived was far from normal for me. Instead of a normal vision/dream, I had like a voice reaching out to me. It was deep and menancing, a voice someone would most likely be afraid of. The voice told me lots of stuff, but to summarize, he basically said "Ditch the camp, come with me, we will rule the world, your godly parent doesn't care because you're a mistake". I was tempted to go with him, but there was a little voice in my head telling me this was a bad idea. So, I trusted my instinct and turned him down, so I woke up with a cut on my chest. Weirdest thing ever I know.

After that weird encounter/dream, I went over to the hill to meet with my friends from the Apollo cabin. It had become routine to go there at the rising of the sun and talk to them while they watched the daily occurrence. We always joked around and everything, most of the time about girls or people that we didn't like. For example, I didn't like Annabeth at al,l and neither did most people to be frank. Sure, she had to run away from her home at seven years old, but she was really annoying and prideful. I would be lying if I said she was ugly, but with the Aphrodite campers going around, she couldn't be relying on her looks.

The Apollo campers and I always thought I was their brother, I mean with the blue eyes and archery skills who wouldn't. The only difference was that I couldn't play an instrument to save my life or that they were usually more social than I was. Don't get this in the way that I'm an antisocial kid, because I was really popular at school. But even then where everyone knew me, I still had my close knit friends that I trusted with my life. Every time I think about them a pain hits my chest, a pain of the realization I will never talk to them again.

After that I went to the Dining Pavilion and ate my Trix cereal. The Hermes table was always the most chaotic, with people throwing food, others hitting each others, others yelling insults, etc. You get the idea. The first few times I sat here, all I felt was amazement. I mean, here were the children of GODS, and all they were doing was throwing French toast at each other.

I looked around the table and saw Luke glancing at me, more than usual. You see, ever since I arrived Luke had been a really good companion and friend, but I always knew he knew something about me I didn't. Something that made him extremely uncomfortable. So, every time I was with him, he was friendly but I could sense him trying to distance himself from me.

The rest of the day, like until five maybe, was pretty normal. Training, playing basketball, practicing archery, doing hand-in-hand combat against Clarisse (the Ares camper), talking with Silena, flirting with her sisters (mostly with Drew because it was the easiest to get to make out with me), and dining. Once again, I prayed for my mom or dad to claim me, and a little bit to Dionysius (to keep me on his good side), sat down and ate.

We had an hour before the daily campfire and sing-along, so instead of going to flirt like I normally would, I went to the woods to clear my mind...and do other stuffs. I put on my camouflage hoodie and checked to see if I still had my necklace. Once I had both, I went to the woods at a fast pace.

Must've been about fifteen minutes later when I found a squirrel on the ground.

"There there little squirrel, this won't hurt at all" I muttered, summoning my bow and getting into a ready position. I waited patiently, analyzing the surrounding area for any unknown animals or persons. Once determined that there weren't any, I counted to three to make my kill. I focused completely on the squirrel, analyzing its weak point, every move it made. I was on the three when suddenly, a voice behind me interrupted, making me lose focus and miss my shot and, in response, the squirrel running away.

I turned around to yell at the person who interrupted me in my kill. The weather around me dropped about fifteen degrees, the trees began to move along my fury, the woodland critters came out of their hiding places to look at the turmoil and, once they saw me, they stood there motionless. When I saw the being that had interrupted me, I stood surprised when instead of a human I saw a bear. He was sitting there, looking at me with curiosity.

"Did you just talk?" I asked without panic on my voice. The bear looked at me and did what I could only suppose was a smile

"Yes indeed young Jagger. Now, you must be wondering how you can talk to me" the bear replied

"Well, yes I'm wondering that. What I'm also wondering is why you haven't attacked me yet and why did you interrupt while I was doing my kill"

"Ah yes, I'm much sorry about that, but my boss would not be happy if you killed any more squirrels for amusement It has been...tedious to replace each and every one you kill" the bear said

"What?" the bear didn't pay attention to me and kept talking about his 'explanation' for everything

"I haven't attacked you because I am forbidden to do so and because you are important to our future. As to why you can talk to me, let's just say you were born with this gift. Ever since you were little and you got frequently lost in the woods, we woodland critters have looked after you. We watched you in the fight against Lycaon and his pack and also against the hunters. By the way, good job on beating Zoë up, that girl needed a lesson." the bear said while chuckling a little

"But why me? What do you mean I'm important to your future?"

"I'm not really supposed to be talking about it. All I can say is that, because of the circumstances of your birth, many deities want to kill you or manipulate you into doing other things. That is why I was sent to you, to tell you and let you make your own decisions. I'm not here to reclute you to our army or anything of the sort, but always remember to trust your instincts."

"Okay, anything else Mr. Bear?"

"Yes, two things actually" I groaned internally " Firstly, you will have a dog to look after you. You can talk to him as you would with me, but he will have to report to me your progress and occurrences, so remember to behave. Second, today an unusual kid will arrive. He is a very powerful kid who is loyal to a fault. So, under no circumstances, must you be on bad terms with him. It is for your own good, trust me." I looked at the serious look the bear and knew instantly that he wasn't joking around. I nodded and bowed a little out of respect to the bear. When I got straight up, no longer did I saw the bear that had been talking to him.

Instead, in his place stood a pretty big dog. He was pretty big yeah, but you could see that he was still a puppy by his facial structure.

"_Hola loco__que__es la__que__hay? A__quien__tengo__que__matar__ahora? Nosotros__vamos__a ser el duo dinámico, ya vas a ver. Solo con__una__mirada__hacemos__que__nuestros__enemigos__se__mueran__de__miedo__jajajaj.__No me__has__contestado__bro,__que__es la__que__hay_?" the dog started to talk in Spanish

"I don't talk Spanish. But I'm Jagger Buckley, your name is?" I talked awkwardly

"Bro it's so lame you can't speak Spanish. I better teach you dude. Anyways my name is Luis Enrique, call me Sato, and I'm you guardian dog. You know, like an guardian angel but only better. Because, like you know, dogs are mans best friend. Plus you know, I know how to party so we'll have a good time."

"Why do you say speak like 'spik'? I asked. If dogs could have an offended look, then trust me, Sato had one

"Don't be racist dude. At least I talk two languages unlike you! I better teach you, that way you'll be less ignorant. And to answer your insensitive question, I can't say it well. I was born far away from here and have just been recently summoned to you. Once all this passes, you better come to my home." Sato said excitedly.

"Will do. Anyways, let's get back to camp. I have a feeling something important is happening" I said and started walking towards the camp.

Many questions passed through my brain. Why was I born able to talk to bears and apparently dogs? Who is the bear boss? Why does he have to replace every squirrel I have ever killed? Did this apply to other animals? Who is this new kid that I was supposed to have on the good side?

The latter question was answered that same night. Apparently, in all the time I was in the forest talking to animals, a new kid had arrived. But, different from others, he had just thefeated the freaking MINOTAUR. Yes, the minotaur. So, no doubt this was the kid I was supposed to keep on his good side.

"Hey Lee!" I said to the blonde haired Apollo camper, one of my best friends.

"Jagger, where were you?"

"On the woods"

"You shouldn't, it's not safe and you know it. And how did you get that dog?" he scolded and asked me

"Yeah I know, but as you can see, I'm fine. I found Sato on the woods. Anyways, who is the new kid that arrived?"

"I'm as clueless as you are. The only thing I know is that he arrived tonight and had to defeat the minotaur. Oh, and that his name is Percy Jackson or something like that"

Well, it seems I have just found the kid I'm supposed to befriend, or at least keep him on my good side. He must be a powerful one if he defeated the minotaur without training.


	8. Losing a blonde haired girl

When the British band Queen said in Bohemian Rhapsody "I don't wanna die. Sometimes wish I'd ever been born at all", I felt that. It would be an accurate description of how I'm living my life right now. It's been two years since I found out I was a demigod, two years since Luke betrayed camp and every day more demigods following his steps, two years since that Percy Jackson arrived and, most importantly, two years since the start of the waiting to be claimed.

At first, everyone thought Apollo would've claimed me, but after a year and a half of praying to him every day, we all kind of lost hope. My friends from the Apollo cabin where the ones who were the saddest by this turn of events. I mean, I act, look and even have some of their traits like being really good at archery or slightly healing people, but after so long then we just kind of lost hope.

Nowadays I've just been training to avoid been killed by some monsters outside camp borders (not that I went there often). Like I said before, I really don't wanna die. That doesn't mean I'm happy about being alive. Trust me, if I could stop my conception I would give a thousand condoms, birth control pills and then if that failed, then I would drag my birth mother to Planned Parenthood to make her have an abortion. In other words, I don't want to live, but I'm already doing it so might as well survive.

A quick recap of the past two years. Basically Zeus lost his thunderbolt, he blamed Percy, Percy retrieved it, Luke betrayed us, he poisoned Thalia's pine tree, Chiron was fired and Tantalus or something like that replaced him, Clarisse and some others went on a quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece, Percy appointed himself as part of the quest, snuck out of camp, retrieved the Golden Fleece, saved Thalias pine tree, Thalia came back from the dead, and that leaves us here.

Lots of stuff I know, but if you were one of the background characters of the _Percy Jackson adventures _as his book will most likely be called, then nothing really major happened. Sure, Luke betrayed us, many demigods went to side with the Titans and Camp was briefely appointed a Hitler as Camp Activities Director, but nothing more aside that.

Anyways, right now I was in the car with _Percy_, _Annabeth, _andThalia because we needed to retrieve some powerful demigods from a military private academy. The driver was Sally Jackson, Percy's mother. She seemed really preoccupied about our mission, and I would be too if my kid was the son of Poseidon and going to yet another "quest".

Oh yeah, Percy is a son of Poseidon._ Great_, I know

The ride there was pretty calm in my opinion. Of course, Sally Jackson didn't seem to know when to shut up, but that was understandable as her son might've died tonight. When she dropped us off, Percy talked really rough to her. She looked kind of sad, although she hid it very well. I wanted to punch Percy in the face so hard, or maybe put an arrow on his rooster, or maybe break a rib, or maybe...

"Bucky you coming?" I heard Thalia ask me from a distance. I realized that while I was thinking of ways I could harm that blasted son of Poseidon, the group had started walking towards the entrance of the school.

"Yea, sorry I just got distracted" I replied jogging my way up to her. I put my hand with hers and started walking with the group. Might've missed that part in my quick recap. Thalia and I are dating and up till now, Zeus hasn't killed me.

When we arrived at the entrance of the school, there were two teachers guarding it. One of them was a woman and the other a weird French looking guy. The man looked at me and I swear his eyes spoke to me, saying "Finally arrived". Subconsciously, I held on to Thalia tighter, which made her blush.

At first they were reluctant to let us in, but after Thalia made her weird Mist thingy, we entered the facilities. We met Grover, the satyr that had found the demigods in the school. He told us that there were two of them, siblings in facts. The girl was supposedly 12 years old while the boy was 10.

We entered the dance floor (it was a dance night, forgot to say that) and we found a bunch of kids there. The kids stared at us while we entered because either they didn't recognize us (doubt it because of the Mist) or we were just really really ridiculously good looking.

We went dancing, me with Thalia and Annabeth and Grover. Percy was alone, good for him

"So, how have you been since the ride?" Thalia asked me trying to break the silence

"I love you" I replied. Thalia blushed madly and hid her face in my chest.

"That has nothing to do with my question," she said composing herself

"I know. I just wanted to tell you. There's just this feeling that something bad is going to happen here, so if anything were to happen to me, I just wanted you to hear that at least one time"

"You are so cheesy" Thalia laughed. I swear her laugh can brighten my mood any day. Even in those days, I think about the fire in the orphanage, I just hear Thalia laugh and my mood is changed for the day. There's just this special connection, you know? Plus, as far as we both know, we aren't that closely related so we aren't inbreeding.

We danced for a while until Grover came to us with Annabeth following right behind him.

"They are missing. Percy too! You guys gotta come with us" Grover said while grabbing both our arms and leading us out of the Gym (where the dance was being held). We were looking for them for about five minutes, when we found them at a yard or something like that. There were two black haired kids, one girl with a green cap that had her face barely visible and one young boy that looked both afraid and amazed. When I saw Percy, he looked like he had to tell something to the girl, so Annabeth put on her insivibility cap and ran towards the little demigod.

Taking that chance, Thalia, Grover and I attacked from behind. Thalia with her Aegis and I with my bow and arrows. "For Zeus!" Thalia yelled at the top of her lungs while marching forward with her spear.

In front of us, where once stood Dr. Thorn (the guy whoo seemed creepy at the entrance) now stood the Manticore. He tried to slice Thalia in half, but fortunately she used Aegis and rolled backwards, saving herself. From his scorpion-like tail, he fired missiles at Thalia and us. Thalia deflected them using Aegis, but I just had to manage with my reflexes.

Grover began to play his flute, making the grass "trap" the manticore at his feet.

"A Manticore!" Annabeth yelled

"No shit!" I yelled right back. The green cap girl said something but I really can't remember because it was so irrelevant to everything that was happening. Must've been something along the lines of "WTF IS THAT?!" or "WHO ARE YOU?!"

The manticore kept throwing his missiles at us and, at one point, my reflexes gave out. I was impaled with at least five of them right on the chest, thankfully not hitting any vital organs, but still hurt a lot.

I saw how the manticore threw Thalia off into the snow. I tried to yell at him but I was just too shocked about everything that was happening. Plus, you know, the lots of missiles sticking out of my chest.

Just when I thought my girlfriend was done for, the sound of a hunting horn was heard from the woods. The manticore froze, in fact nobody moved. Only the sound of my breathing and some helicopter was heard in the snowy passage.

"No, it cannot be-" the manticore started to say when he was interrupted by a glowing silver arrow that imbedded itself in the shoulder of him. He screamed in agony and I almost had pity on him. I mean, sure he is bad, but those arrows hurt way too much.

"Curse you!" he cried and released some spiked into the woods. Each one of them was shot down by an arrow. Awareness of who had arrived had just made contact with my brain, as I prayed to any deity that might've been listening that it wasn't who I thought it was.

Percy was stupid enough to try to attack him (the manticore) when he wasn't really injured. Amateur mistake if you ask me.

The Hunters came out of the woods wearing silvery ski parkas and jeans. They glared at all of us but, when their eyes landed on me, their glare intensified by tenfold.

"The Hunters!" Annabeth cried

"Oh wonderful" Thalia muttered, loud enough so I could hear

"You don't know the half of it" I said. Thalia lookeed at me strangely and I mouthed that I would explain later.

My best friend Zoë Nightshade came forward with her bow drawn, looking at the manticore with hate. "Permission to kill, my lady?"

Who was my lady? Could it be? No...

"This is not fair! Direct interference! It is against the Ancient Laws." the manticore wailed

"Not so," said a girl I hadn't seen the time they came to Camp Half-Blood. She looked about twelve or thirteen, with auburn hair and silvery yellow eyes like the moon. She was beautiful, no denying that, although she had a very stern face. "The hunting of all wild beasts is within my sphere. And you, fould creature, are a wild beast." She looked at my bestie "Zoë, permission granted"

The manticore growled. "If I cannot have these alive, I shall have them dead!"

He went towards Thalia and Percy, knowing they were weak.

"No!" both me and Annabeth yelled as we charged the monster (well, tried to in my case)

"Get back, half-blood!" the ferret said "Get out of the line of fire!" But Annabeth leaped onto the monster's back and drove a knife into his mane. I, on the other hand, tried to run as fast as I could and began to shoot arrows. This made the manticore turn his attention towards me.

"Fire!" Zoë ordered.

"No!" Percy shouted

But the Hunters didn't give two shits about something a boy said. They let their arrows fly. They hit the manticore in the neck, chest, and all around his body. "This is not the ed, Huntress! You shall pay!" and before anyone could react, he lunged towards the cliff. I tried to stop him and save Annabeth, but to no avail.

"Annabeth!" Percy yelled.

There was gunfire coming from the helicopters . Most of the hunters scattered as tiny holes appeared by their feet, but the girl with silvery eyes just looked at the helicopter and said "Mortals are not allowed to witness my hunt." and with that, she thrust out her hand and the helicopter dissolved into a flock of birds.

The Hunters advanced towards us, all of them glaring at me. Like, it couldn't have been more obvious. Thalia used me as support because, even if I felt like dying, I still needed to help her.

Zoë came towards us and stopped when she saw Thalia. "You," she said with distaste.

"Zoë Nightshade." my girlfriend voice trembled with anger "Perfect timing as usual."

Zoë scanned the rest of us, growling as she saw me. "Five half-bloods and a satyr, my lady."

"Yes," the twelve year old girl said. "Some of Chiron's campers, I see."

"Never would I have thought I'd see the day Zoë Nightshade was being respectful towards others." I intervened in their conversation. The hunters growled when I opened my mouth, but to be frank I didn't care the least.

"Annabeth!" Percy yelled somewhat breaking the tension. "You have to let us save her"

The auburn haired girl took a break from looking at me (that's right, looking, not glaring. Maybe there's still hope for these girls) and turned her vision towards Percy. She looked at him with compassion

"Your friend is beyond our reach. You're a son of Poseidon, can you feel her in the water?" At his silence we all knew the answer

"So why are you gals here? Let me guess, Zoë wanted to impress me with her improvement of manners. Unfortunately, even if you wanted me, I'm already taken. And I'm loyal" I said putting one arm at Thalia's waist.

Zoë's face went as red as a cherry flavored Gatorade. If she were a cartoon, steams would be coming out of her ears.

"Why you insufferable son of a b-" she started to say when she was interrupted by the twelve year old girl

"Zoë stand down," she said putting her hand up. "Why do you act this was boy?" She asked me forcefully, but at the same time with curiosity

Before I could answer, the annoying son of Poseidon opened his mouth "Just who do you think you are?!" He yelled at the girl.

Now, I may be stupid. But at least I can analyze a situation and infer when someone is powerful. Percy on the other hand is just plain dumb.

"Boy!" Zoë Nightshade yelled at him and was going to slap him when the young girl put her hand up once again

"Stop, I sense no disrespect," she said while Zoë reluctantly relaxed a little "Demigod, I am Artemis. Goddess of the moon, hunt, Woods, chastity, archery and maidens" she said proudly

"And apparently leader of little bitches" I muttered. Only Thalia and Artemis seemed to hear me as Thalia hit me hard and Artemis glared

"Jagger shut up!" Thalia yelled

"Nah, something inside tells me they will not kill me anytime soon" I told her while receiving death glares from the hunt. "Plus, why are they so angry all the time? It's not like they don't know who their parent is or if they got their only house burned to the ground. At least they're like a family. A family of brats, but still a family" I said glaring at each and every one. For the first time, they averted my eyes, all except one.

Artemis.


	9. Beating up a ferret

Have you ever met someone and when you started talking had an instant connection to them? I'm not saying romantically, it's just that you click.

Well believe it or not, that's exactly what happened with the goddess Artemis. Sure, she was leader of my anti-fan club, but there was just something with her. Might've been the fact that she was the only one who didn't want to kill me, might've been the fact that she didn't really glare at me, it could've been lots of things. One thing is for sure, I was not just an average boy to her.

She ordered the Hunters to set up camp, which they did in like five minutes. Artemis then went to her tent with the new demigod girl, Bianca di Angelo I think. The little boy, Nico di Angelo, wanted to go with his sister, but Artemis basically led Grover on to make him watch the boy.

While the girl Bianca and Artemis talked in her tent, Grover and the rest of the demigods (Thalia, the young boy Nico, Percy and I) sat on a log. I sat next to Thalia, trying to lift her spirits up a little, but she was just way too mad at Percy for me to be able to do anything.

Percy seemed sad, having just lost his "best friend" and sexual tension partner.

Nico di Angelo, one of the kids we just rescued, did not seem to sense the vibe of dread that was consuming all of us (well, almost all. I really didn't care as I didn't like Annabeth). He kept asking so many questions that actually considered putting an arrow through his head.

He asked many stuff to Percy, such as if he used his sword as a pen, if it ever ran out of ink, if he was a son of Poseidon, if he was good at surfing and that, if Annabeth was a daughter of Athena and supposedly smart, why did she fall off a cliff. I barely contained my laugh, while Percy looked ready to kill Nico.

Before he could do anything, the great lieutenant of the silver Girl Scouts came towards us, obviously glaring daggers at me.

"My lady wishes the presence of the two boys" she said pointing her finger at both Percy and I

"Why Zoë, hasn't anybody told you that pointing fingers is of bad taste?" I said while stretching my way out of my seat

"Thy doesn't deserve respect"

"That may be true, but a goddess just asked for my presence. In other words, I must be important, more so than you" I winked at her and walked like three steps then turned around.

"Lead the way ferret" I told Zoë. For the first time she just ignored me and walked past me in a fast pace. I began to follow her with Percy at my side.

"What's up without her?" He asked me. I turned my head towards him and spoke

"Don't talk to me so much. Just because the same person hates us doesn't mean we're friends"

He seemed sad, and I knew I was being mean. I just couldn't help it when a kid was being so annoying and thinking he's better than everyone else because of his father. Sure he didn't act that way, but I just sensed how he thought, just like a person like him would.

The task of befriending him had been much more difficult than I had initially thought. At first I was amazed on how he could defeat the Minotaur without training, but after retrieving the Lighting Bolt, he thought that every quest was for him. A perfect example is the quest for the Golden Fleece. It was given to Clarisse by Talantos, but Percy appointed himself because "he had the idea first" or something like that.

In other words, I don't consider Perseus Jackson my friend, nor my enemy. He's the kid that you don't talk to from your class that you don't really like, but at the same time you wouldn't do anything to him (for now).

We walked through the camp with Zoë on the front, leading the way. She stopped in front of a tent. The tent wasn't different from the others, although it held an area of superiority.

After knocking three times, a strong voice was heard.

"You may enter"

Zoë went in the tent, not even holding the flap open so that I may entered.

Inside the tent was Artemis and Bianca. The walls were covered in animal furs, which made me kind of happy. A person working for Peta might've died of shock here, but we're not two faced douches (not even Zoë, she's not two faced).

"Ah Percy and Jagger, nice of you to join us. Please, take a seat" Artemis said motioning to the seats in front of her.

The ferret took seat at the side of the goddess while Percy took a seat at the side of Bianca. There wasn't any room left for me, so I sat in the corner, right besides Bianca and Lady Artemis.

"You may be wondering why I look this age" Artemis said. Percy nodded while I was just doing a glaring competition with Zoë. "I may appear as a lamp, a buck, an old woman, but I choose this form as it is the average age of my hunters"

"So you can appear, say 17-18 right?" I asked, knowing the answer

"Yes boy didn't you hear her?" Zoë replied

"I didn't ask you"

"Well you were being disrespectful"

"Okay you are shunned for five years"

"What's shunned?" Zoë asked

"Lady Artemis, could you answer my question?" I asked her completely disregarding the ferret

"Yes I could, although I don't do it often" she replied calmly

"Could you do it now?" I asked her

"I normally don't do requests...especially from a boy..."

"Lady Artemis this is insane! He just comes here and demand you change?! He is just a disrespectful, womanizer, son of a b-"

"Alright that's it! Unshunned!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. Until now, Bianca had been pretty scared and Percy was unsure on how to act. "I may be okay with you insulting me, hating me, wishing I was dead, attacking me, and many other stuff. But I won't let you degrade my mother to such a standard. I may have not known her, she may have not wanted me, but I do not give a SHIT. I still love her and if you say one more thing about her I swear I don't care who you are but I will kill you" I said as I stood up from my seat.

"The only person who could've had a son like you is a whore" Zoë said while standing up.

Something inside my head clicked. I marched towards her and punched her rib cage as hard as I could. She fell down breathlessly.

I grabbed her by the front part of her shirt or jacket and exited the tent. Once outside, I threw even more punches at her face. She was so beaten up that here was no way she could retaliate.

Normally when I was doing karate, a little part of me would've made me stop and take mercy on my opponent. But when I was beating Zoë up, there was no such thing. I just continued to punch her and kick her in the stomach.

A crowd was gathered, both the hunters and the demigods stood there unsure on how to stop the scene. The only one who had the courage to do anything was Artemis. She came towards me and grabbed me by the neck. She put her arm around it and the other one she used to hold my arms together in a way that I couldn't escape.

She led me through the woods far away from the beaten up Zoë Nightshade.

Now I tell you, being taken far into the forest by a man-hating goddess is not the most peaceful time a guy like me could have. Having heard many things this goddess had done to many innocent guys made my imagination go wild. I mean, I had just beaten up her lieutenant so bad that I may have broken her ribs, several of them, and even done some inside bleeding damage.

She threw me into the ground and just stared at me for about a minute. I grew impatient from the wait of my doom and told her "If you're going to kill me just do it and be done with it"

She stared a little bit more and just sighed.

"Huntley" she said quietly. _How does she know my name_?

"Don't call me that"

"Huntley" she repeated as she took a step closer. There was a bright light, so bright that I had to shield my eyes. When it died, I opened my eyes and saw that, in the place where the young 12 year old goddess was standing, an 18-19 year old woman stood. I recognized her as the girl from my dream two years ago. The girl I saw get raped by the blonde guy.

"Y-yo-you a-are t-th-the-the g-g-g-girl fr-from my dream" I said while reclining into a tree for support.

"Jagger," she walked in front of me. She put a hand on my cheek as tears began to fall from her eyes "I am your mother"


	10. Meeting my birthgiver

If my life were a story, this would be the part where everything makes perfect sense but the main character is still in denial.

Let me explain.

I had just beaten up Zoë Nightshade when Artemis dragged me into the woods. Of course, I thought I was going to die or become a woodland critter, like the ones in South Park. What I didn't expect was for said goddess to say that she was my mother.

Of course, that would explain my love and talent for archery, my prejudice and the tendency of following my instinct; although at the same time I was one of the biggest womanizers in camp, even at a young age, and that is basically exactly what Artemis hates.

"That's...possible. Wow. I can't believe I'm meeting my mother. I can't believe YOU'RE my mother, you should hate me." I said trying not to cry. Really cheesy, but in my defence, I have just met my mother got the first time.

"I tried to keep you, I swear. I just couldn't. I'm really sorry if you have passed through any difficulties. I love you my son" Artem-mom said full on crying. I felt kind of bad, knowing full well she had never intended to have me and the circumstances I was conceived were not the best ones.

Hugging my mother must have been one of the best feelings in my life, even if she was crying. These past few years I honestly felt like dung because I thought Apollo had forgotten to claim me, but it turns out it wasn't Apollo who needed to claim me. Wait...

"Why haven't you claimed me?" Mom stiffened at my tone and looked at me in the eyes. I could tell she felt remorse and pain, which wasn't exactly what I wanted to feel by that question.

"You see Huntley, I'm supposed to be a maiden goddess. By having you, I basically broke one of my domains with a mortal. Such an act would look bad to the Olympians, so they would stop at nothing to kill you. I swear on the Styx that I wanted to claim you, but I feared for your safety," mom responded with slight panic. Every once in a while, she would look at the sky, as if she feared for someone.

"Why didn't you abort me?" I asked after a few moments of silence. She looked at me as if 'why the hell are you talking about that' look, so I continued on with my thought

"I mean, I probably remind you of something horrible, and life as a demigod isn't easy. So, wouldn't it have been better to abort me and prevent all of this?"

"Although I can't deny your conception wasn't planned or a pleasant feeling, you're still my son. I have to be honest and tell you I planned on aborting you, but by that time I had already loved you way too much to kill you. You're my son, and I love you"

A few minutes of silence passed, both of us sitting on the ground close to each other. Suddenly, mom bolted up with a panic look.

"I just realized something, and it's not good. Come on, let's head to camp. You'll leave with Apollo to Camp Half-Blood, I have to make a hunt,"

"Can't I come with you?"

"I'm afraid not Huntley. This is a very dangerous mission and I would hate to lose my favourite person in the world so soon," I simply nodded.

"One more thing mom"

"Yes, Huntley?"

"Call me Jagger, that's my name from now on"

"Why?"

"Huntley was...gay. No offence, but not even Hunter? You gave me a dorks name. So now you're looking at Jagger Buckley, son of Artemis" I said proudly. She smiled at me and hugged me in a motherly way.

"Hey, can I tell someone that you're my mom?"

She seemed in deep thought for a moment and hen replied "Yes, but make sure they are trustworthy"

"I will," I said smiling

Around three minutes later we arrived at the camp, where Percy was comforting a crying Thalia and most hunters sat outside a tent, which I assumed was the medical one.

When they saw me, they were surprised, to say the least. Thalia bolted up and ran towards me, evolving me in a bone-crushing hug. She sobbed on my shoulders, so I just patted her back. Mom went inside the tent while the rest of the people were looking between both of us incredulously.

"I thought you had died. But you're here! I love you," Thalia said/sobbed. A little dramatic to be honest. I just went into the woods with a man-hating goddess just after beating up her lieutenant.

"Don't worry so much. If I were ever to go, I would at least do a proper goodbye," I said with a soothing voice

We proceeded to walk to the rest of the campers, where a wide-eyed Percy and Grover greeted us.

Time passed by, and we heard mom yelling orders for the hunters to break up camp. Just as quickly as it was put, which was about five minutes, they had broken it down.

Our group walked towards the hunters to ask what was happening. Mom told us she had called for her brother to pick us up, which he should arrive any minute now. Nico became super excited while the rest of us were indifferent. The hunters all groaned and then proceeded to glare at me.

"But milady! We can't go back there" Zoë Nightshade said

"You will go and that's an order. The Artemis Cabin is free for the hunters to use any time you need. Besides, I'm pretty sure Dionysus has forgiven you for burning the cabins" they nodded

"Oh, that reminds me. Bianca, have you made your mind?" Mom asked Nico's sister, Bianca.

"I'm not sure"

"Wait, made up her mind about what?" Percy asked mom

"They asked me to join the hunt," Bianca said.

"You can't! The camp is the only safe place for us demigods,"

"Not if you're a girl" Zoë butter her way in the conversation

"What good would become of being a hunter?"

"First of all, immortality," Zoë said smugly

"She's kidding right?" Percy asked my mom

"Zoë rarely kids about anything" mom began when I interrupted her.

"Tell me about it" all the hunters glared at me. Zoë looked like she would kill me, if not for her predicament.

"Could you shut up?" Zoë said

"Oh I can, I just don't want to,"

"Jagger shut up before I make you mute" Mom scolded me. It was enough so I could tell she didn't mean it, but also enough to fool everyone else. I wasn't in the mood to keep fighting, so I just shut up.

"Now, do you accept?" Mom spoke softly to Bianca

"Y-yes, what do I need to say?" the girl asked mom. She proceeded to say the oath. A slight glow of silver shined from her skin, and she seemed stronger. That must be the effects of the oath.

Nico seemed sad, but also kind of understand his sister situation. Nonetheless, he hid behind me as a kid would do with his father.

About five minutes later, the sun seemed to rise from the horizon.

"About time," mom sighed "he gets soo lazy during the winter"

We were all looking at the sun when it seemed to get brighter. Almost unbearable to look at.

"Don't look directly at it, not until he parks" mom said

_Parks_?

I closed my eyes and I could still see how the light shone brightly. When the light calmed down, I slowly opened my eyes and, instead of a ball of stuff as I had expected, the 'sun' was a car. One of those douche cars where every immature guy would say 'I want that' or how girls say 'I want the guy who's in there to father my children' or...you get the idea.

The door opened and out came a teenager of about 19 with tan skin, blonde hair and sunglasses. He looked just like all the Apollo campers and, putting 2 and 2 together, I found out this was Apollo, the god of a bunch of stuff.

"Little sister! What's up? You never write, you never call, I was getting worried" Apollo, my uncle told my mom. She groaned and replied

"Apollo, we're twins. I'm not your little sister"

"This calls for a haiku" Apollo interrupted, clearing his throat

_"Green grass breaks through snow_

_Artemis pleads for my help_

_I am so cool"_ he made a face as if he wanted applauses. Me, being the good person I am, clapped for him. He seemed pleased.

"The last verse was four syllables," Mom said

"Was it?"

"Yes, how about 'I am so big headed'?"

"No, that's six syllables," Apollo began to think about possible verses when Zoë turned to us

"Ever since his trip to Japan, lord Apollo has been obsessed with haikus. At least they're better than the limericks...if I had to hear one more poem that started with 'there once was a goddess from Sparta'"

"I got it! I am so awesome, that's six syllables" Apollo smiled to himself "So why do you need my assistance?" he asked my mom

"I need you to bring the hunters and the half-bloods to the Camp. I have to go on a hunt,"

"What are you hunting?"

"Nothing you should be concerned of," mom replied harshly. Apollo just smiled

"Don't worry. I'll find out. I know all" mom just sighed and Apollo changed his 'hot ride' to a school bus. We all went in but when he tried to help Nightshade, she just glared at him and my mom told him about the rules he had like he couldn't flirt with the hunters and things like that.

I was the last one to get on the bus, but before I got in, I looked above my shoulder to get a last good look of my mom. Who knows, this might be the last time I see her. I nodded at her and she did the same to me.

Inside the bus, I saw that the hunters were all piled up on the back of the bus, far away from us guys. Even Bianca, the really newly appointed hunter was sitting with them.

"So, who wants to ride?" Apollo jingled the keys


	11. Chiron got maaaad

You know that in some states like South Dakota, you could get your license at 14? Well, based on this past experience, I believe the minimum should be 16.

So my uncle Apollo thought it would be a good idea to let one of us drive. Then, he decided that the best choice would be my girlfriend Thalia because she is a daughter of Zeus. I mean, he would've put me and it would've made more sense but apparently he didn't know everything.

Well, it turns out Thalia can't drive...at least not so up high.

She almost set fire to Long Island and a couple of states down the road, we almost crashed, it was just plain horrible. Apollo tried to give her instructions, but she wouldn't listen. Even I tried to tell her to calm down, but my words just went through her ear and out the other. Finally, Apollo took control of the sun chariot and we arrived at Camp Half-Blood in one piece.

Apollo bid us farewell, telling Percy to look out for the prophesies and taking a really hard look at me.

Chiron then came galloping towards us, asking us if the mission was a success. Percy was the one to tell him that Annabeth had gone missing, to which he seemed really sad. I mean, I couldn't blame the dude. Annabeth was like a daughter to the centaur, and missing her to the manticore isn't the best way to never see her again.

Once Zoë Nightshade spoke down to Chiron, the hunters went to the Artemis cabin, leaving the rest of us glaring at the walking figures. I excused myself and went to shoot some hoops like the boys in the inner city.

I was enjoying playing basketball with some Ares kids and my dog Sato (not really wanting to talk about the mission with Percy) when some four hunters came towards us. I stopped the ball and glared at them.

"What do y'all want" I said with authority

They just let out air "what are you doing here? You should get out before you get really hurt"

"Oh, like your lieutenant Zoë did? Wait, my bad. I beat her up. And I doubt you gals can do better than her," they glared at me and took out their bows while the Ares kids took out their swords and spears. Sato began to growl at my side, preparing himself to launch at any moment.

"Stand down. This is my fight," I said with my psycho look. I forgot to tell y'all that before, I'm kind of psycho. Chiron even lets me kill some animals every once in a while in fears that I will harm someone. Unfortunately for these hunters, I haven't killed an animal in about four moments, so my bloodlust was on an all time high. "Now, who wants to go first?"

A hunter named Phoebe launched herself first. With her hunting knife in hand, she started to slash with heat technique. Sadly for her, my reflexes and instincts aren't like those of a normal demigod, so I just easily dodged all her attempts to maim me. Once I grew tired of always being the one in defensive mode, I sidestepped to my left, twisted her arm until I heard something break, took her knife and put it on her neck, daring her to move. Phoebe just stood there yelling from the pain, which really didn't make me feel bad at all.

Then came all the other three hunters at the same time. One shot an arrow towards me but I easily grabbed it.

"Y'all should work on your aim" I said before launching towards her, impaling the arrow on her leg. Then, I put her leg in a straight position and stepped on her knee, breaking the bones. With each agonizing scream, my bloodlust increased.

The next hunter just came with her hunting knives ready. You could tell she wasn't as experienced as these other two, as I easily went to her behind and popped an arm out of pain. Then, I went and grabbed the knife from the floor and stabbed her in between the arm and the shoulder.

I heard as campers and hunters alike began to show up at the scene, but at that moment I didn't care. All that mattered was that blood was spilled. I couldn't control myself, I just had to harm these people without much reason.

The fourth hunter was pretty much the same tactic as the third one, which meant it was an easy fight. Just as I was about to stab her on her dislocated shoulder, I heard a commanding voice from behind.

"Jagger Buckley stop what you are doing right this instant!" I began to choke the hunter and then turned around to see a disturbed and furious Chiron.

"They interrupted me and my friends" I defended myself, full knowing that he was going to yell at me no matter what I said.

"And your response is to fracture these hunters, maybe permanently injuring them?!" He yelled even more furious than before

"I mean, in my defense, I have to learn to control myself" and that was when he lost it. He came towards me, all hunters and campers watching afraid at the scene, grabbed my arm and pulled me to the Big House.

"Ouch Chiron, it hurts."

"Shut up until we arrive at the Big House" And so I did. An angry Chiron is not someone you want to mess with.

I could feel everyone staring at me in shock and fear, so I just closed my eyes to avoid being targeted as an inhumane being.

Once we reached the Big House, he pushed me in and then locked the door. Inside was Thalia, Percy and Mr. D, all who were looking at me waiting for an explanation.

"What?" I asked

"Jagger, you are banned to participate in the hunter vs camper capture the flag of tomorrow, banned from eating dessert for a year, banned from hunting for a year and from leaving the camp for a year!" Chiron yelled at me. I couldn't believe my ears

"What?! Just for defending the honor of the camp?! That is bullshit. If someone should punish me it should be Artemis herself!"

"You have injured four hunters, one who may not recover for two months!"

"They deserved it" I rolled my eyes

"Just because they interrupted your game?"

"They threatened me. It was self defense"

"Self defense my ass. You go apologize to the hunters and remember that you are forbidden from playing the capture the flag"

"But Chiron! I am the only chance we have against the hunters!"

"Well you should've thought about that before you went to injure them"

"Wait time out" Percy interrupted "what happened?"

"Jagger here severely injured four hunters"

"Technically three, you stopped me from being four"

"Oh. Why did you do that?" Percy asked

"Because they were being annoying and rude and dangerous. All I did was establish this camp honor" I explained making it seem as if I had complete control of the situation

"I have to agree with Jesper-I mean Jagger in this one. The hunters have always acted as if this camp is theirs, and it was time to teach them a lesson, however harsh it may be." Mr. D said

"Thank you lord Dionysus. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have something important to do,"

I grabbed Thalia by her arm and pulled her with me out of the Big House. I led her into the woods, into one of our hidden places.

"I have to tell you something really important. But you can't tell anybody. Please promise me you won't." I asked her

"I swear on the Styx I won't reveal any of the following information without your consent" Thalia said as thunder boomed

"You know how we all thought I was going to die after I beat up Zoë?"

"Yes, of course. Lady Artemis pulled you into the woods. How did you survive?"

"Yeah well, it turns out she wasn't mad at me. In fact, she seemed really happy she could talk to me?"

"You aren't cheating on me with a goddess are you?" My face paled at the thought of that.

"Ew no. Just listen to me. You know how I haven't been claimed yet? Well, it turns out there's a reason for that,"

"Which is..."

"Artemis is my mother" I finally said. Thalia stared at me, at first in disbelief and then in curiosity.

"What about your personality? It is literally what Artemis hates"

"Yeah, well I still have a father. Well, a sperm giver. That person shouldn't even be considered a man," I said madly at the thought of my conception

"Okay back up. Who is your father?"

"He is unknown and unimportant. He raped my mother so he deserves to die. In fact, the day I meet him I will make him suffer for everything. No matter if I die," I said kind of mad and sad at the same time. Thalia hugged me tightly, and then kissed me lightly on the lips. What was originally a romantic gesture soon turned into a heated make out session. We were getting it to the next level when a voice stopped us from doing so.

"Hey lovebirds! It's time for dinner! You can continue it later, especially if you have a cabin for yourselves," Silena yelled at us.

We broke off the kiss and I helped Thalia up the ground. We then went to the dining pavilion where wonderful news awaited us.


	12. Meeting Uncle

Have you ever walked into a room and realized they were just talking about you? Have you had it happen over 100 times?

I stole that quote from Mean Girls, but it's exactly what happened to me as I entered the dining pavilion. Everyone just instantly shut up and stared at me with fear and amusement. Word must've gotten out about how I beat those hunters.

The Artemis table, obviously filled with hunters, was glaring daggers at me. In all honesty, even if I felt slightly bad about what I had done, it all went away when I remembered that these girls all could talk with my mother almost on a daily basis while I had just met her today.

Anyways, I got my food -rabbit stew tended to calm my nerves- and sacrificed some to Hermes for letting me stay in his cabin, to Apollo because he's my uncle and to my mom, then sat next to Connor Stoll on the Hermes table. You see, even though I already knew who my mother is, she hasn't officially claimed me. And I knew that wouldn't happen until I did some really heroic stuff.

I was already going to get my dessert when Chiron stomped at his table, motioning everyone to pay attention to his words.

"Campers and hunters, tomorrow as in tradition we will have the Campers v. Hunters game of capture the flag. Due to recent reasons, the hunter team will be having two players less than normal, so the campers must have an equal amount of players. Moreover, the camper Jagger Buckley is not allowed to compete. Do I make myself clear?"

All of the campers created a ruckus, with the Athena, Hermes, Apollo and Ares cabin the loudest. The Athena cabin complained because I was the second best strategist, almost as good as Annabeth who had gone MIA. The Hermes cabin was, in all effects, my cabin, so of course, everyone would be mad. The Apollo cabin was like my siblings (only I knew we were cousins), so of course they would be mad. The Ares cabin was just mad that we might lose again.

"Silence! Even though I may not agree with Jaggers punishment, he must pay for his actions against the guests," Mr D. announced to everyone. Immediately, they all shut up in fear that the god might strike them.

"And Jagger. Don't think I didn't notice you going for dessert. Get back to your table. Now!" Chiron yelled at me, and I obeyed.

After dining and having the campfire (which I wasn't allowed to be in for the entirety of it), everyone went to the cabins. That night I fell asleep relatively fast, but it wan't a peaceful rest.

I saw my mom being taken away by some monsters. She looked beaten down, remorseful. I wanted to alert somebody, but I couldn't do anything. Suddenly, everything went blank for a moment. As soon as that happned, the scenary changed into one of my childhood favorite places. It was the woods of Sheperdstown, with the Potomac River flowing nearby. The birds chriped, the squirrels planted their seeds, the ants built their colonies, and all animals lived in peace.

"It's as if you'd never left right?"a guy said behind me. I turned around and saw Apollo, only instead of looking 19 he looked about 25. A little bit more mature, but still young enough that you could see his charismatic persona. He wore a yellow sweatshirt with black sweatpants and some black Nike shoes.

"You look like a bee," I simply said

"Don't bee disrespectful," I groaned "Okay Jagger, this meeting is important. So pay attention,"

"What happened to m-Artemis?"

"I'm going to get to that. But before, I just want to tell you that I know your secrets," I panicked. Only Thalia knew that Artemis was my mom but the other secret I haven't told anyone.

"Wh-hat do you mean you know my secrets?"

"Please. You think I wouldn't notice the similarities between the kid that is excellent at archery and my sister? You literally prayed for me to claim you every day. Besides, I always kept my eye out for you. Ever since my sister got pregnant she hasn't been the same. She has been even more manhating, even more distanced from everyone else, and me being the awesome twin brother I am, took note of all these changes,"

"What do you-" I tried to ask before Apollo interrupted me

"So one day, I followed her. Turns out, that it was March 21, aka your birthday. So, I saw your birth but, because Artemis can be really scary, never told her a thing. I saw when my sister left you in the orphanage, with lots of tears coming out of her eyes. Since that day, I've always payed attention to how you grew up, making sure no harm came your way. That is how we are here, with everything exactly as you remember it." I stayed silent for about a minute, letting all the information get to me.

"Th-hank y-you Lord Apollo"

"No need for that Lord nonsense. Call me Uncle Apollo, it was about time I had a nephew. Anyways, we can chat later on. Right now, I need you to go see my oracle."

"The Oracle? For what?"

"You just saw how your mom was captured. There is a quest to rescue her and you need to be in it. If you aren't the one who receives it, then there is no way Chiron will let you go in the quest. So, I'm going to let you wake up so you can get the prophecy as soon as possible. And a fair warning, this quest will be dangerous, so don't bring anyone inexperienced. Good night and good luck nephew. I'll look out for you," he ruffled my hair and left.

I woke up as the stars were still up and everyone was sleeping soundly. I quickly put my coat on and socks and ran to the big house, where I saw an angry Zoë Nightshade and a desperate Percy Jackson. I hid behind the house and heard the conversation.

Now, I don't have time to literally say the whole conversation word by word (plus it would be boring) so it basically went like this.

Zoë: cHiRoN i hAvE tO rEsCuE mY lAdY

Chiron: no

Percy: I hAd a dReAm

Chiron: go to your cabins

And they both went away. Luckily for me, Chiron didn't notice my presence, so I was able to get in the Big House. Once Chiron went inside, he quickly went to his room, leaving me with the chance to go to the attic.

After about five minutes of checking for any unknown movement, I stealthily went to the attic, where I found the Oracle mummy hippie thingy.

As I approached it, goosebumps began to crawl up my body. What if I wasn't ready to go on a quest? What if while on the quest, people died because of me?

Once in front of the oracle, she began to glow like a sick green. Her eyes opened and showed green light, and her voice became like that of a snake.

"Approach Oracle and ask" it said in a reptilian voice. I took a step closer and asked,

"How do I rescue my mother?" Suddenly, everything around me went blank. There were three people in front of me. The first one was Thalia with her punk clothes which made her look really badass, the second one was my mom in her 19 year old form. The third one was Apollo himself, wearing a normal beach attire.

Mom opened her mouth to talk, but instead of her normal voice, the voice of the Oracle seemed to take over.

"_Five shall go West to the goddess in chains_" she spoke. Then, Thalia went forward.

"_One shall be lost in the land without rain_" she spoke.

"_The bane of Olympus shows the trail_" Apollo said next, but just like the others, he spoke in a serpentine voice

"Campers and hunters combined will prevail" said Thalia

"_The titans curse must one withstand_" said Apollo

"_And one shall perish by a parent's hand_" mom said


	13. A ferret will go on a quest

After hearing such a beautiful piece of poetry, I literally went running back to the Hermes cabin, almost falling in the entrance. Climbing up the bed and putting the sheets covering my head, I heard movement from my side.

"Went to the bathroom?" Travis Stoll asked

"Yeah"

"Well better that than peeing yourself. Next time try to be quieter though, it's way too late. Or early. I don't know man, just go to sleep"

"Will do"

And indeed I did the opposite of that. Yeah, I tried to sleep, but every time I closed my eyes, the image of my mother telling me "and one shall perish by a parent's hand" hunted my dreams. I mean, it probably is no coincidence she of all three was the one who said it.

Those few hours passed so slowly I thought of putting a bullet through my brain. When it was around 7 -sunrise in winter- I went to talk with my cousins.

"Hey bro, what's up"

"Nothing much dude. Loved how you beat up those hunters" said Lee

"Yeah dude, you gotta teach me how you do that," said a happy Michael, the happiest I've ever seen him in fact.

"Yeah, I will. To be honest, I really don't want to talk right now, so you guys keep talking like normal. I'll just stay here,"

"Are you feeling good?" Will asked me, putting a hand on my shoulder

"I don't wanna talk about it" they nodded, knowing not to annoy me when I'm feeling down.

When it was time to eat, I went to the dining pavilion. This time, nobody paid attention to me.

Ok that was a false statement. The whole Artemis stared at me with so much fury, that if looks could kill, I would've been unborn or something supernatural like that.

As everyone sat down and began to eat, I saw that the ferret and Percy Jackson seemed distressed. I also saw Chiron sitting on the big table (Hades what is it called) next to Dionysius. Taking this as my only chance, I stood up and banged my fists on the table. It took about fifteen seconds for every camper and hunter to silence down and pay attention to me. Once they did, I proceeded to talk.

"I received a prophecy" I simply said. Most stared at me wide-eyed, as it was common knowledge that one wasn't supposed to receive a prophecy without Chiron or Mr. D knowing about it.

"YOU WHAT?! JAGGER BUCKLEY EXPLAIN THIS INSTANT HOW YOU RECEIVED A PROPHECY WITHOUT MY PERMISSION OR KNOWLEDGE!" Chiron yelled at me angrily. I looked at him in the eyes and responded.

"I sneaked into the attic and the oracle gave me a prophecy. If you don't like it, sue me"

"Why you little-" he couldn't finish his sentence because of his fury. The usually normal tempered Chiron went towards me, ready to pull me by the collar. He was almost choking me, as my feet didn't touch the ground. "You have this instant to tell me why you sneaked into the Big House and receive a prophecy without my consent."

"Well, I can't deny a god right? Plus, what would people do if the moon was never seen again?" He put me down with a terror-filled face.

"What didst thou say about the moon? Hath something befell to milady?" the ferret spoke from the Artemis cabin

"I can't say it out loud. I request a cabin counselor meeting. But this time, I'll be there" I looked at Chiron, daring him to defy me. He glared but knew there was no option left if there was to be peace in Olympus.

"Meeting in the Big House right now. All Cabin Counselors are requested." He spoke and headed to the Big House alongside Mr. D. Next to me, the Stoll brothers stood (as they were co-counselors of the Hermes Cabin), Lee Fletcher stood from the Apollo Cabin, Silena from the Aphrodite and a bunch of others, who unfortunately included the ferret.

Once in the Big House, we all sat down, with a ping pong table used as a table. Before Chiron could tell me to say the prophecy, my best friend spoke.

"Sirrah say to me right now what befell to Lady Artemis ere I beat thou till thou choke it out"

"Can you talk normally for once? It makes me want to puke every time you open your mouth, plus nobody can understand you" I said, with everyone slowly nodding their heads in agreement to the second statement.

"Just say to us the bodement, or thou shall be 'i sad danger."

"You mean prophecy. And say you, nobody uses thou unless it's a shitty Shakespeare school play," my girlfriend Thalia said to her

"Yeer. Yoor. Yeeee" Nightshade tried to say

"Oh just forget it," Thalia said

"Anyways, let's hear the prophecy. So, it goes like this," and I proceeded to say the prophecy. By the end of it, all of them were looking at me with fear, and Zoë Nightshade had a look of terror on her face.

"So what now. We analyze it or something? Because I already know who's coming with me," I said after a minute of silence

"why is a sirrah 'i charge of rescuing milady?"

"For anyone who needs a translator, the Mary Magdalene here said 'Why is a boy in charge of rescuing milady'. And to answer it, I was given the prophecy."

"Why did you get the prophecy? Didn't you sneak in?" Percy Jackson asked. I controlled myself for not throwing a punch at him.

"Yes I did, but it wasn't because I just had the idea to ask for a prophecy. It was an order I received that night,"

"And how do we know that you aren't a spy?" Malcolm X (I like that nickname for him) asked me

"You just gotta trust me. It's in my best interest that Lady Artemis is rescued, even if I despise the hunters. Now, are we going to discuss the prophecy?"

"Yes please, I'm getting bored," Silena talked for the first time in this meeting.

"Ok. '_Five shall go west to the goddess in chains_', that means I decide five people who will go with me. Ideally, it would be me, Thalia, Lee, Silena, and Malcolm, but it can't be all campers. Plus, I'm not sure if everyone wants to come."

"I shall hie, alongside another hunter," said a very special someone

"Whel, it will be me, Thalia, the ferret, anothuurr hunter, ayn' one mawe person. Ay weysh it would be Silena," they all looked at me as if I had lost a braincell. "If nightshade keeps a-talkin' like that there, ay will talk how ay mighty talk. So be done warned,"

"What?" asked Clarisse

"I said that 'If Nightshade keeps talking like that, I will talk how I really talk. So be warned'."

"Okay, proceeding with the meeting, which other hunter shall go?" asked Chiron

"Methinks Phoebe should'st join. She is our meetest tracker."

"Okay, and Silena Beauregard, will you be joining?"

"I prefer to sit this one out. Sorry Jagger," Silena said

"Naw wawries. Whel then grover, will y'all join us?"

"Oh absolutely! Everything for Lady Artemis!" I cringed at the thought of this goat boy being in love with my mother.

"Perfect! So we already have our five quest mem-" I started to say before I was so rudely interrupted

"What about me?" asked Percy Jackson. Seriously, this guy can be so obnoxious it's annoying.

"This is my quest and I hate you. Therefore you're not coming. Plus, I don't think the hunters would appreciate another boy traveling with them."

"But I'm important"

"And I don't care. May we continue with the discussion of the prophecy?"

"Yes. So, the next line, '_One shall be lost in the land without rain' _means that one of the questers will die or be lost where it doesn't rain. I suggest staying away from the deserts." Beckendorf said

"Yeah. And what about '_The bane of Olympus shows the trail?_'" Silena asked. Everyone looked at Mr. D. expecting an answer, but he didn't give them one. Thankfully, I already knew which monster (perks of being the son of the hunt), so this prophecy would be a piece of cake. Imagine if I end up dying, that would be so lame. I mean, I prefer if Zoë Nightshade dies. She's a good for nothing feminazi who would kill or castrate -or maybe both- every guy she sees. Plus, she always talks with that ancient accent and doesn't even want to improve it. Even I change my accent so people can understand me, but noooo, she's just so bitchy that she-

"Jagger! Are you listening?" Thalia shook me out of my thoughts. I noticed the room was empty, with only her by my side.

"What?"

"We're leaving in half an hour. So go to your cabin and get ready!" I kissed her lightly on the lips and began running towards the Hermes Cabin. Should I tell the questers that Artemis is my mom? Or will that become known to everyone in the journey? What should I do?


	14. Telling my tale

You would imagine a hunter of Artemis would be more cautious with the stuff boys give to her, but apparently, that's not true. Well, at least it's not true in the case of Phoebe.

Turns out that a T-shirt the Stoll brothers gave to her was dipped in centaur blood, which is like acid to us. Did I forget to say that part? Yeah well apparently when I was zoned out earlier today, the Stolls gave Phoebe a super rare shirt about Artemis, and so the stupid hunter is now bedridden.

"We are now four, shouldn't another hunter come?" Thalia asked me once we were inside the van

"No, this is a part of the prophecy. '_One will be lost in the land without rain_'. This is the land without rain, and one has been lost," she didn't sound too convinced "besides, with fewer hunters around we have a bigger possibility of not being killed by one of our fellow quest members."

"True. Let's just hope everything comes around fine,"

"Yeah, let's just hope," but in reality, I was feeling crazy nervous. I mean, besides being my first quest, I need to save my mother. And if that wasn't enough, I'm highly convinced that she will accidentally kill me (or maybe not so accidentally).

Around a minute passed and the four of us were inside the van. Then, we fought over who should drive the van, and there were three possible candidates. Zoë Nightshade said she should ride because she was the leader of the hunters and therefore the leader of the quest to save Artemis. When I told her that this was my quest, she proceeded to insult me.

"If instead of insulting me you made good arguments, maybe you would get what you want and not have such a bad reputation,"

"Well maybe if thy didn't annoy me thou wouldn't have a problem."

"Was that even grammatically correct?" Thalia asked. Grover and I laughed till our belly's hurt, so Zoë took the opportunity to go to the front of the van and began to drive. We were taken by surprise and were sent to the back of the van.

"So, where should we head towards?" I asked after a while

"We should go to Washington DC" Grover said.

"Why? That's not west and the prophesy specifically said west. We cannot afford to lose time," I said woth slight panic in my voice, which made Grover and Zoë look at me curiously,"

"Why do you care about Lady Artemis so much? I mean, I get it. She's pretty, so into nature, so strong, wise, pretty, brave-" Grover began to say before Thalia interrupted

"You sound like you're in love with her. What about your little friend Juniper?"

"We're nothing!"

"Anyways. Why go to DC?" I asked a little more forcefully

"I can smell her. At least, her scent was there."

"Fine, we're going there" I said

"What?! Just because a boy said Milady was there?!" The current driver said

"Yes. And do I need to remind you that this quest was issued to me? So head to DC before I kill you" I said in a dead serious tone, and I noticed that both Grover and Thalia backed away from me. Even Zoë seemed scared.

The next few hours were silent, with Zoë stealing glances at me in fear I would do something. But the weird part was that even Thalia didn't want to be next to me. So I just respected her decision, but I was afraid she was going to end things.

When we arrived at DC, Grover told us to go to the Smithsonian. Once there, we went to get something to eat, because we were hungry as Hades.

Suddenly, Thalia was sent forward as if someone had bumped into her. I turned back and saw the last person I wanted to see right now.

"Percy Jackson what the fuck are you doing here when I specifically told you that if I saw you I would kill you. Explain to me right now why I shouldn't kill you right now."

"Jagger relax a little. He just wanted to help" Thalia tried to tell me

"No, I've had enough of him. He always thinks he should be in prophecy's because he's the _son of Poseidon_ well I'm sick of it" a small earthquake was felt, but I didn't care at the moment "this is my first quest, and I decided who should come and who shouldn't, and you weren't part of it. Sometimes you aren't the main character, so get over it and let other people's story matter"

After my rant, I saw that everyone had once again backed away from me. When I turned my head to look at Thalia, she flinched.

"Ok, so y'all mind explaining what the fuck is going on?"

"Y-your e-ey-es are g-gold" Percy said obviously scared.

"No, my eyes are blue"

"No, Jagger. Your eyes turned gold" Thalia told me more calmly, but certainly uneasy

I was confused. Never in my life had my eyes turned gold. Why would that be?

While I was thinking about all of this, the wonderful Zoë Nightshade grabbed me by the collar and put a knife against my neck. People around began to stare, but just as quickly looked away uninterested in what was happening.

"Who are you? Why are you here? Who is your godly parent? Swear it all on the Styx and I'll decide if I should kill you or not"

In that position, it was impossible for me to escape her grip or just avoid the knife. It was just me facing a man hater on the verge of certain death.

"Umm I know this is not the best time. But Luke is here with a guy named The General and they have one of Zoës clothes. Ohh and they're sending some monsters to keep us distracted. So like we should get going" Percy said

"So we have a traitor. And for now we might as well think that traitor is the _boy_ here, so someone hand me rope. Now!" Grover, the coward he is, gave her rope (from where I have no idea) and she tied my hands in a way I couldn't move them a centimeter.

"Okay, so now I'm in charge until he's proven innocent. Now let's get out of here before the monsters attack"

We made our way out (well, I was being dragged but same principle) and started to head towards the van. As we ran, there was a little girl who said "look mommy kitty".

Well, you may have guessed it, but it wasn't a normal Garfield cat, quite the opposite. It was none other than the Nemean Lion. Now, all I can say is that, because of my predicament, I couldn't aid in the battle. In the end, they killed it and Percy took his pelt and blah blah.

But it turns out that, surprisingly, that wasn't the only monster the apparent General sent for us. There were also some skeletons and some helicopters chasing us. The latter wasn't a monster, but human mercenaries can sometimes be just as horrible.

Anyways, the five of use started to head towards the subway so the helicopters couldn't chase us anymore and so the skeletons wouldn't follow us. Once there we took the subways until there wasn't any more train we could take.

"So it seems this is a dead end. Hopefully we don't have the skeletons chasing us." Thalia said, relaxing a little.

"Maybe, but thanks to a traitor they have our smell. And i suggests that traitor starts talking right now" Zoë Nightshade threw her dagger so it was just beside my head, one millimeter and I would've been dead. She went towards me and punched me in the face, but I couldn't defend myself. "Talk" was all she simply said

"I am not the traitor," I said "Artemis being rescued is just as important for me as it is for you,"

"Don't believe that for a second. Thy always hated the hunters, and this could be your revenge against us. Furthermore, thy haven't been claimed so this could be thou revenge against the gods."

"Well rub my marbles and call me a donkey, I might as well tell y'all my story so y'all release me I reckon" I said my anger taking over me, making me speak in a southern accent

"Please do tell" Percy Jackson said

"So, lets start at the beginning. It was a June night in a forest somewhere in the world. There was a woman minding her own business and suddenly a blonde son of a bitch went and raped her, making her pregnant. And so because of that I was born-"

"Thy father is Apollo? Should've known that sorry excuse of a god might've do-" Zoë interrupted me

"Don't talk about my uncle like that!" I snapped, immediately realizing what I had said. Zoë and Grover stared at me in disbelief while Percy was trying to connect the dots. Thalia already knew, but seemed sad I had to share this information when I didn't want to.

"Thy mean-THY LIE! A NORMAL MORTAL WOULNT BE ABLE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF MILADY!"

"It wasn't a normal mortal. If you'd have let me finish then you'd have known. Now shut up. And please untie me"

"Not until you say the whole story," Zoë said

"Fine. It wasn't a normal mortal like I said. When I saw the vision, in order for him to, you know, his hand or something glowed golden and my mom went unconscious. There was some magic or supernatural powers messing with that." Thalia began to think who might've been while Zoë's face was pale

"So nine months after that I was born. My mom named me Huntley Artem Arc, and put me in the orphanage in West Virginia where I grew up next to the forest and everything. And I changed my name when I realized what a horrible name I had. Then at 12, I met Silena and she saved me from a teacher monster and the orphanage burnt down and I was forced to go to Camp and that's my story. Now please untie me I have to pee"

**Hey! First of all I'm very sorry for the tardiness of this chapter. Second, I know I skipped and had some parts that are different than in the book, but remember this is an alternate universe. Plus, this is more the story about the character Jagger, not the story as a whole. Get it? Anyways I'm sorry if it seemed a little rushed, I'm very rusty**


	15. Hello my Old friend

Okay so like let's be honest. I've never been much of a people person. Like I said before in previous occasions, even if I was popular back home in West Virginia, I still maintained my close-knit group of friends. Even at camp, I usually stayed either with Thalia, the Stolls or Silena (when she wasn't with Beckendorf). Needless to say that I usually stay with friends.

Unfortunately, on this quest, I had only one friend, well girlfriend in this case, with me. The others were Grover the coward, Zoë the feminazi and Percy the disobedient son of a bitch. In other words, only one person I felt comfortable with and, on top of that, now all of them knew my secret.

So I had to tell them who my real mother was and how I was conceived. Of course, they all stood silent without moving and I was peeing myself already, so I just yelled.

"EXCUSE ME! Please untie me I have to pee! Seriously I have to say this two times?"

"Yes of course Master," Grover said bowing and quickly untying me.

"Don't call me master," I said before walking away from them

"Wait, boy, where do you think you're going?" Zoë Nightshade asked while running trying to keep up. I turned around and faced her "I'm going to save my mom. And I will do that alone it seems since yall love to blame me for everything and not take things seriously. Plus, if what Jackson said is true, the monsters will be looking for you, not me. Ergo I'll just go and leave yall alone."

I just kept walking until someone grabbed my arm. Thinking it was Jackson or someone irrelevant, I shook the person off. When my arm was grabbed a second time, I turned to see who it was. Thalia stood there with tears in her eyes, but with a determined look in her eyes.

"Jagger don't overreact, just come with us," she said in a soft voice

"No Thalia, I'm sick of being the outcast, the person who people don't trust. I'm never part of the story of anybody, just an extra. I'll just leave and save my mom faster than you guys will. With Jackson now part of it and you, no doubt monsters will be following you. So just let me be."

"No Jagger I won't let you be. We're in this together. You're my boyfriend, the one I love. Now, I know you want to save your mother but we all want to do that here. You don't have to go away."

"You don't get it, Thalia. She's the only family I have left, the only family I've ever known." I grabbed her shoulders gently "You know I love you too, but I can't risk this. Good bye Thalia" I kissed her one last time and started to walk away.

"If you go away it's over between you and me!" I heard her scream. I made a small pause, but my consciousness and instinct were one now, both focused on saving my mother. I kept walking while hearing Thalia's sobs echoing through the subway.

"I told you, all boys are the same" I heard Zoë whisper but, in all honesty, I was way too focused on the task at hand to go back and save my relationship.

Two hours later and I had finally peed. With my super speed through the woods or however you want to call this power I was already in Sheperdstown.

"Take me home to the place I belong" I sighed

"So you're still obsessed with that song? Seems about right" a female voice said behind me. I turned around to see one of my old friends

"Alanna? Alanna Barbee?" I asked with shock evident in my face and voice.

"Jagger Buckley, the one that got away." She said giving me a hug which I gladly returned. "All of us thought you had died in the woods after the fire. My deepest condolences by the way."

"Yeah well I didn't die. Just ran away and finally met my mother." I said nonchalantly, which Alanna didn't think it was something to be so indifferent about.

"You did? That's awesome Jagger! So what brings you here to Sheperdstown? Doubt that it was because you missed us. You should've missed us a year ago."

"Sorry about that. Actually, I'm on my way to Cali for family stuff. Turns out my family is messed up and that was partly the reason why I was left at the orphanage."

"Partly? What's the other part? Anyways that doesn't matter. It's around 4:30 and it's winter, and if you remember anything about here, it's getting super cold and dark soon. If you want you can stay in my house. I have a spare room and my mom is in Florida visiting my grandparents without me. Bless her soul. Anyways what do you say?"

"Sure that sounds great! I have to leave early tomorrow tho"

"Don't worry about it. You need to rest if you plan to go to Cali. I'll email my mom to check if we can get you a plane ticket to LA or something like that. You know that she had a soft spot for you, so it won't be too hard. Now seriously let's go, we can talk more at home."

I had forgotten how much I loved this place. Sure, Camp Half-Blood was cool and everything, but this was home. And seeing my old childhood friend really made me think about how much I had lost.

Alanna Barbee was the kind of girl who you were either jealous of or were in love with her. I always thought of her as my sister, and she thought of me as her brother. She was about 5'3, slightly tanned skin, blue eyes, brown-blonde straight hair and way too smart for her own good. Like honestly, she was kind of perfect. Every guy had a crush on her (at least two years ago) and every girl wanted to be her. Add to that, she was one of the most popular girls in school, but she was friendly with everyone. I really missed her.

We arrived to her house, which was a really average looking house. As I entered, I noticed nothing had really changed much. The carpets were still the same old boring khaki color, they still had their old tv and even the kitchen was the same. The only two things that were added were two photos. One was a photo of Alanna and I in my first Archery competition with my giant trophy. She was leaning into me with a bright smile on her face, and I remembered how close we were. The second photo was again of me and Alanna, but this one was around two years ago. In this photo, Alanna and I were both sweaty as hell, but hugging as if our life depended on it. We had just finished our track and field/cross country competition, in which both of us had won first place in our respective events.

"I still think about that day. You won by a full ten minutes from the second place! It was a new national record."

"Wow I forgot about that. That was probably the peak of my life,"

"What do you mean? Didn't you meet your mother?"

"Well yeah, but still. Ever since that I've been under a lot of stress and unable to have real friends, like you. I really missed you Na."

"Missed you a lot too Jagger. You have no idea how much I cried when I thought you had died. People searched for you for months but there were no traces except for some wolf tracks and some blood, which we assumed meant that the wolves got to you. Which wolves? I don't know but there were traces of them"

"Yeah, it's a mystery" I said completely knowing which wolf track she meant.

"So anyways I don't have much food here right now, so do you want a hot pocket? It's pepperoni"

"Yeah sure. And let's watch some tv, it has been years since we did that"

And so we sat in the living room, eating hot pockets and watching The Office and Friends. We decided that, since we hadn't seen each other in such a long time, a comedy series would've been the best thing to watch. We went to bed at around 10pm and, for the first time in two years, I finally felt at home.


	16. We're going on a trip

Being completely honest, I think I have a curse upon me. You see, the days I can sleep till late I always wake up at 5:30am. Why? Only God knows. And if he doesn't exist then nobody knows, but let's not get into that right now.

It was 5:45 and I was already downstairs eating breakfast: some Frosted Flakes, an Eggo and one scrambled egg. Along with Apple juice, this was my go-to breakfast while I was growing up, and now that I was here again, I just had to eat this. You know, just to spice that nostalgia up.

"Why the hell are you up so early?" Alanna asked from behind me, rubbing her eyes and her face telling how much she wanted to either die or kill me.

"I just rested enough. Plus, I want to visit my old home before heading to California."

"About that!" Alanna started to say excitedly "my mom got two tickets to California. We leave at 1:28 and arrive at 5:43. After that we can part ways, but I want to spend that time with you. I know you have important stuff to do, but we need to catch up."

"Oh my gods thank you so much Alanna! I have no words!" I hugged her tightly while she laughed.

"So where do you want to go now? Oh right you told me, the orphanage. Just to warn you, the bank that has that terrain hasn't done anything, so it's not a pretty sight."

But I was not prepared to see around 11 flowers with a stone with each of the names of my brothers and sisters. I was not prepared to have this sense of not being enough, this sense of pain go through me. And that's when I had the splendid idea to use my most unusual power, the power that didn't come from my mother.

"Alanna" she turned towards me "I'm about to do something, but I'm afraid it may hurt you. So just wait for me at your house, I'll meet you there for the airport."

"Alright, but if you disappear I will hunt you down and kill you with my bare hands"

"I'll keep that in mind" and so she walked away. Once I saw that there was nobody near the scene, I focused all my body and mind into the present. All my memories of this place, all my being connected to this place. Once I felt one with the place, I began to think back in time. I saw how, everything seemed to go backwards. Like a movie flashback, but in real life.

I saw as the years passed by until I finally saw the fire that had caused the death of my family. Now, all that was left was focus on who/what started the fire. I saw the whole day of the incident, but one thing got my attention. As soon as I went to school that day, a hooded figure sealed all the doors and windows shut. After that, the same person put some flammable liquid around and, finally, lit the place up. All I could see of the figure were his two blue eyes.

I ended the flashback power thing with tears coming down my cheeks. I remembered my family fondly, they were the ones that gave me so many opportunities and the ones who taught me everything I know. Without them, I would've probably been a kid who had never reached his potential. And there's nothing worse than not being able to achieve what you were born to do.

I kneeled in front of their stones and silently prayed to Hades. I knew he wouldn't listen, and I knew that whatever I said now wouldn't affect what had happened, but it was the least I could do for my family.

After praying and going to Alanna's house, we were headed to the nearest airport. Always with the feeling of somebody following us, I asked the cab driver if he could go faster, that I would pay him double if he did.

When we arrived at the airport, Alanna and I quickly passed through TSA where, fortunately, they were doing a horrible job and didn't confiscate my weapons. Alanna had her hairspray confiscated, but I am 100% sure that she packed it to disguise something else.

We arrived at the gate about an hour and a half early, so we just bought some candy and slim Jim's for the trip and began to talk.

"Okay Jagger, now tell me for reals. Why are you acting so weird and going to California?" She asked me

"I thought you were fine with no-" I began to say before she interrupted me

"Are you a demigod?" I stared back at her to see why she asked that question, but I saw nothing.

"W-what? A demigod? What is that?" She just sighed catching my lie

"You know, half mortal and half god. Like I know you met your mother, so you would be a son of Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, etc. That's why you're heading to California, so you can go to Camp Jupiter." Ok now I was really confused. How did some planets have children.

"Wait wait, what are you talking about?" I asked her

"Well you know, you have a strange aura and you're going to California. You're in a hurry and said your family is messed up. You just give me that vibe."

"But how can planets have children?" I asked clearly confused. She flicked my head "ouch"

"That'll happen when you act like such an idiot. Roman gods Jagger, Roman gods." It took me a minute to recognize the implications of this. If what Alanna was saying was true, then that means there's a Camp for Roman demigods on the other side of the country. And not only that, most probably we weren't supposed to know that, or else they would've said it.

"So, are you a demigod?"

"Of course Jagger. Daughter of Mercury at your service. Now, I know you're a demigod and I know you know that I know that you know"

"What?"

"Friends reference" she rubbed her head "what I meant is that, you know who your parent is, so spill." And I panicked, mentally not physically. Should I tell her about the Greeks or should I just go with my mothers Roman name or should I just tell her I didn't know. And what I did next would be the first time my instinct has partly failed me.

"I'm a son of Artemis" her eyes shrunk in visible confusion "yes, her Greek name. You see, I'm a Greek demigod and I've been living in Camp Half-Blood, a Camp for Greek demigods. Right now I separated from a quest to save my mother because they were not taking it seriously and almost killed me. My mom is holding the sky right now and basically I have to go to find the Ophiotaurus and kill it, find Nereus to ask him a question and, finally, save my mother."

"Aren't Greeks supposed to be dead?"

"I'm pretty alive" I told her with a smirk

"Shut up" and so I did "but, I mean, they should've told us if there were more demigods around the country"

"I bet it's because we aren't supposed to know of each other, so when you arrive at your camp, don't tell a soul about me."

"Alright I won't. But a quick question"

"Shoot"

"How are you the son of Dia-Artemis? Isn't she like THE maiden goddess?" I looked away from her as I really didn't enjoy reminiscing that event

"Circumstances that were in no way just" was all I said, leaving her to connect the dots

"Ladies and Gentlemen if you would excuse me, the American Airlines flight 4582 service to Los Angeles has been cancelled due to weather issues. Please visit the gate B12 for refund or change in flights. We apologize for the inconvenience" a female voice said through the intercom

"Son of a bitch" I muttered "Let's go over there"

"Hi, aren't you two a little young to be traveling alone?" The blonde old woman from the counter asked us

"No it's alright, we're 16" Alanna easily lied "but we need a ticket for California right now"

"I'm sorry for the inconvenience, let's check what I can do for you" she clicked a few times her keyboard, when we saw her eyes brighten in a happy way "well we do have two more seats left on the flight 8031 to San Diego. It boards at 9:37pm but it's the only flight we have available right now to California."

"We'll take it" Alanna said

"Great, your seats will be 12A and 12B, both in the exit row. Are you willing and able to assist in the case of an emergency?"

"Yes" we both said

"Excellent, well enjoy your flight and I greatly apologize for the inconvenience"

"You're fine" I said

We had ten hours in the airport, with nothing to do. And so, being the two special teenagers we were, we decided that the best thing to do was find other teens our age and...you know.

We spent four hours trying to do that but there was nobody our age. Like seriously, how is there nobody our age in a whole airport?

The hours passed slowly, and slowly, and slowly, with a dash of slowly.

Finally it was time to board and we did so, both being in an almost empty flight. Only people were the pilot, co-pilot, air-maids or whatever they're called and an old couple.

"Two seats left my ass" I heard Alanna mutter and I just laughed. When we took off, I grabbed her hand, trying to relax on the flight when in reality I was freaking out. This was my first plane ride ever and, the fact that there was so much snow and stuff wasn't helping me relax.

Suddenly, the plane shook greatly and the yellow cups with bags attached to them came down.

"Ladies and gentlemen the seatbelt sign is turned on, please remain seated while we go through some turbulence"

_Great, just great. _


	17. When in Utah

When I first shot my bow and arrow, I thought it was beginners luck. Then I realized that I had a gift for it, because of my mother and blah blah. But now I believe I have beginners unluck or however you want to call it. My first time ever in a plane and it was going to crash.

"I don't want to die yet" Alanna cried completely scared because of our predicament

'We're not going to die today. Not on my watch at least' I opened the emergency exit door, which made an inflatable life boat.

"How are going to need that?!" Alanna yelled

"Shut up and hop into it. It's the best thing we've got" I yelled at her trying to calm myself down. As soon as we were both in the life rack, I separated it from the falling place until I realized something.

"We're falling!"

"Really? I thought the earth was just moving closer to us!" Alanna replied sarcastically

"What do we do?! My powers won't help me!" I panicked

"Okay let's just think,"

"Think my ass. I'm saving at least one of us right now" I hugged her tightly and jumped out of the life rack, which was going to fall onto some rocks. Positioning myself towards the ground, I prepared for impact on the ground. First thing I felt were tree branches coming in contact with my skin, some impaling my legs and abdomen. Surely I was not going to survive this. The blood loss was so much I was not even conscious when we made impact on the ground.

When I woke up, I found myself in the back seat of an SUV. I tried to sit up but I was found unable to move anything other than my arms.

"Ugh" i accidentally made a sound

"Well guess who woke up. Not to worry, we're near Utah right now. Few more hours and we should arrive to California. Around a day or so, which is probably how long it'll take you to make a full recovery," Alanna explained to me. It was weird, I knew exactly what she was saying yet my mind just got 'wellgsixbs laskgodsj alshsiab woxjsksb California skdbfocbs revxlxja'

"My head hurts," I groaned "give me a pill"

"No you drug addict. I gave you enough so now you have to deal with the pain. Now shut up and listen to the radio,"

"How did you even get this car?" I asked her

"None of your business. Now shut up or I'll shut you up"

The songs on the radio were all the same six songs. Bubbly, love song, bleeding love, when you're gone, umbrella and girlfriend. All of the Avril Lavigne songs reminded me of Thalia.

"Alanna, can I as you a question?"

"I thought I told you to shut up"

"It's serious"

"Fine what is it"

"I had this girlfriend, she was on the quest. But basically I got mad and went off and, in the process, we might've broken up. But I still love her, I don't want to lose her. What should I tell her?"

"Well first of all, congrats Casanova in finally settling down. A big step for you,"

"Alanna..."

"You want my help? Then listen to me. Tell her you're sorry, but be sincere. Tell her that your mother being trapped under the sky had some effect on you, that you would never hurt her intentionally or ever hurt her ever again. Tell her she's the continuous source of inspiration of your life. How does that sound?"

"I guess pretty good. Are we going to stop to eat and sleep somewhere or are we just going to starve and freeze to death?"

"I just took a food exit genius. We're going to Outback Steakhouse! So you can get your favorite: steak. How does that sound?"

"You has me at outback mate!"

"Thank gods we're arriving. I can't deal with your bad grammar for another minute,"

"Leave it be Alanna. Me has hunger"

And so we ate our good 16pound steak with a side of Mac and cheese. Nothing better than eating a good ol' steak. Seriously, vegans and vegetarians are missing out on so much. Sucks to be them. Oh well, that means there's more steak in the world for me.

After we ate, we tried to ask for a hotel, but they told us that the nearest one was 5 hours away.

"There's no way we can go 5 hours away just for a hotel. Guess we have to sleep in the car," Alanna complained

"Say what now"

"Oh please. I will not drive five hours for a hotel and it's better this way. We both sleep here and as soon as I wake up we can head onwards with our trip," She did have a point. Plus, I needed to rest so my injuries could get healed completely.

"Fine you win. But I don't want to freeze to death" I told her

"You sound like you have never spent a day camping in winter with me. Remember the first rule?"

"Not eat your sandwich?"

"That's the second rule. The first rule is body heat. Let's just sleep together and we'll stay hot," Ok that sounded so wrong. It took me a minute to finally realize what she had meant, and another minute for my blush to come down.

"Alright. We'll sleep together. No homo tho"

"Didn't know you were a girl Slacker"

"I meant it...forget it. Let's just go to sleep and get it over with,"

And so we spooned in a really non-romantic way. It was purely survival. And if y'all think it wasn't survival, then you clearly haven't been in a situation where you can freeze to death.

Unfortunately, life has a way of screwing things up. Alanna was already sleeping while I was watching the moonless sky, being the big spoon by the way, when suddenly an Iris message appeared in front of me. And just my luck, Thalia stood in the Iris message looking more heartbroken than ever.

"Thalía it isn't what it looks li-"

"Save it. It was my error for actually believing you had changed. Gods and here I thought you were sad also and that we could work things out while you were fucking some other girl not even two days after we broke up?! I don't even want to see you ever again. Understand?! And don't call me, it'll be a waste of drachmas," she basically yelled with tears coming down her cheeks

"No wait" I tried to tell her but she just swiped her hand through the mist, ending the call.

_'I hate my fucking life' _I thought as I drifted off to sleep.


	18. This is me!

Okay so I have to be honest with you guys. When I stated narrating the story of my life, I didn't know I would get so bored at one point. So, because of this, I have decided to do a timeskip. Why? I just told you. So, from now on, I'll just summarize what happened in the two between Utah and where I am standing right now.

So, Alanna and I were in the a car going to California. Between her going 200mph and I being kind of drugged from the pain (it works like that), the ride went by pretty fast. Incredibly, we crossed two giant states (Utah and Nevada) within two days. Then, we arrived to California where I had the realization that the quest would most probably be looking for Nereus and/or the ophitaurus. That meant that there was no plausible reason for me to spend time looking for them when I could sit go straight forward to saving my mom. So after biding goodbye to Alanna, I just went towards to mountain I was supposed to go to. Of course, saving my mother is the reason why I'm in this horrible state (no offense; I just hate dry places). Just in and out. Sounds easy? Yeah. Was it? Hades no.

Because guess who decided to show up...

That's right. My uncle Apollo decided it would've been a good idea to just pop up when I'm in a hurry to save my mother/his sister.

"Hey Jaggy" he said with a smirk

"That was worse than your haikus." Before he could interrupt, I went on "could you just please bother me some other time? Say, when I'm not on a quest to save a really important Olympian?" His smirk diminished and a serious face took its place

"So not in the mood for jokes? That's alright. I need to talk to you about something serious anyways. Come with me," and before I could even ask what he was going to say, he began to walk towards a Wendy's.

I ordered a bacon cheeseburger with a small chocolate frosty, while my uncle Apollo ordered a Baconator with the big ass frosty.

"Why is this small so small? The amount doesn't even fill up my spoon, this is why I hate capitalism,"

"Should've ordered the big one. You knew I was paying right?" Apollo mentioned munching on his Baconator

"Of course I knew that..." I murmured as I took a bite "what did you need to tell me?"

"Okay, so. I know who your father is and the reason of everything." He said slightly uncomfortable.

I felt as if my insides were burning. Was this some kind of sick joke he was playing? Because if it was then it was a very good one because I just got very sick.

"W-wh-hat...wh-who is it?"

"You may not like this. But his name is Luke Castellan"

As soon as he said that, I felt like my insides were literally going to come out of me. I knew he was a traitor, but never in my life would I have thought he was capable of such a horrible thing. And to do it to MY MOTHER. I just wanted to kill him, and then kill myself. I couldn't believe I was literally half of him.

"Well, you're not exactly half of him," Apollo caught me off guard. "Because when you were...conceived, that point in Luke's life has not happened yet. When it happened, Luke was actually part the ancient one. Meaning, you're half Artemis, quarter Luke and quarter K-dude. That's why you have mostly Artemis powers, but you also have slight time control and personality traits from Luke. Any questions?"

The information I was just given was just...too much. There is a limit of the things you can learn in the span of five minutes, and Apollo has just exceeded my life limit. Not only was I supposed to never exist, but I REALLY wasn't supposed to exist.

"But why did it happen? And how am I mortal if I'm 7/8 immortal?"

"You can't be immortal unless you're 100% born like that or you were made one by the council. But don't worry, I'm sure you would not have any problems attracting a few votes." He tried to joke, which he failed miserably.

"You still didn't answer my question. Why do I exist?"

"Well you see, when the male sperm en-"

"Would you just answer my question and stop horsing around?!" I screamed/yelled at him, with admittedly a few tears coming out my eyes. "What was the reason for that?! Why her?! Why me?! I didn't ask to exist but yet here I am! Why?!"

Apollo sighed and put his frosty down, looking tentative on whether or not to tell me.

"Well?"

"If I tell you, you have to swear on the Styx to never mention it to anybody ever. Understand?"

"I swear on the Styx never to tell the following information my Uncle Apollo will give me. Now, please tell me" I told him finally tired of beating around the bush.

"Well, it is no secret that you have Artemis will of impulse and hunting and all those attributes. But what you both share the most is the desire to do things right whatever it takes. This may work in your favor, but it might also bring your downfall. Let me explain"

"Please do" I was confused as hell honestly.

"For example, you had your mind set on saving your mother from bearing the curse of holding up the sky. When you saw that the quest was not going to be so successful, you chose to get a different path to reach your goal. For you, there are more than one answer. In your brain, there are hundreds of viable scenarios playing, and with your instinct, you tend to choose the correct one."

"You have yet to answer everything. We don't have all day you know right?" I was getting annoyed with the lack of answers

"Paciente mi sobrino hermoso"

"I don't speak Spanish"

"It wasn't anything important. Now where was I? Oh yeah. So, because of that, they thought you would side with them as you would see how 'unfair the Olympians can be and how much we really care'" He said doing the air quotes "But fortunately, you didn't fall into their pretty words and pretty compellable arguments. You chose to stand by us and help us with everything,"

"Well yeah, mom is the only family I have. I have to be with her even if I die while fighting for her"

"And that's what they didn't realize. Even if it's not noticeable, Artemis loves her family very much and would risk everything for us. And it seems that gene was passed onto you."

"That still doesn't explain the necessity. Wouldn't it have been easier just to fight without me existing?"

"What are two of the worst things that can happen to a god?" Apollo asked me. Suddenly realization came to me

"Going against your nature and losing a domain..." I muttered while my eyes were wide.

"Exactly. We don't have to go all technical but you get the idea. She lost the domain of virginity and she went against her nature when, you know. So now Artemis is weaker than she used to be, which made them able to capture her."

"But how did they know the plan from so long ago?"

"Moron I just told you that he cane from the future." Right. That passed through my mind. Way too much information.

I sat there looking at my bacon cheeseburger, thinking about what I should do with the information that was just provided to me. Around 15 minutes must've passed when Apollo stood up.

"I'm really not supposed to be here, father will bolt me out of the sky if he finds out I was here. So one last thing. Go straight to the mountain. No need to search for the other things. I bid you good luck, I'm proud of you."

I stood up and awkwardly gave him a hug. He stiffened, not thinking I was ever going to hug him.

"Thank you uncle. You're the closest thing I have to a father. So really, thank you for everything," I said sincerely, words coming out of my mouth without even processing them.

"Love you, Jagger. I know you'll do well in this quest. Take care of your mom for me will you?" He looked at me in the eyes, and I looked at his, for the first time, I saw humanity behind his eyes. There was sadness and desperation. But most importantly, there was a lack of brightness that didn't really suit his sunny self. It was as if his eyes were telling their last goodbye to me.

"I will" I nodded my head full with determination. Apollo just grinned at me and began to walk away. His figure began to fade ever so slightly until there wasn't even a trace of him ever being there.

Going out of the Wendys and finally knowing my next stop, I set my mind for my four-hour journey to the mountain.

"Last stop Mt. Othrys. Hope the quest hasn't arrived yet,"


	19. you are the weakest link

So close but yet so far away.

I was literally around 200 steps from my mother. Just needed to climb a little more. The mountain wasn't all that steep, but for some reason, I felt as if my body refused to obey me. Normally, I would feel my body very light, perfect for climbing or running fast. But there was something deep inside of me that had regretted coming here.

Took me around 10 minutes to get to the Garden of the Hesperides where I saw the three Hesperides. All of them had a similar appearance to someone I had seen before, but I couldn't quite place who.

"Ah young hero. Here to fight our father? If so you will have to go through Ladon first." The middle one said in a sweet and creepy voice.

"Or, I could just not do that and go straight to doing what I came here to do," I simply shut down her idea.

"The quest has gone through Ladon. You will need to pass through the same difficulties they did if you want to fight our father" the smaller one said.

Perfect, arrived after the quest. Just _perfect_. "Fine, I'll fight Ladon if it's what it takes. Can't believe this is happening," I muttered the last part.

I went on forwards when I saw that Zoë Nightshade was fighting a hundred-headed giant dragon with serpentine-like skin. Ladon. Even if I hated her with all my being, I wasn't going to let her be killed by a stupid dragon.

I sprinted my way towards her and aided her.

"What are you doing here _boy? _Couldn't find anybody else to lay with you?" She asked me from her peripheral vision

"Nice to see you too Nightshade. Seems you learned to talk in the four days we've been apart,"

"More than four days," she replied as she dodged Ladon's tail.

"Well I wouldn't know, I was unconscious for a good percent of that time. Also, do me a favor and go fight with the others. I can deal with this beast,"

"No can do pretty boy. I'm here as his old tamer, he should be able to recognize me,"

"But he doesn't. Please, just go help he others, knowing Jackson he's already battling Atlas. You know how he is," I could see that she saw my point of view, but was also conflicted with her decision.

"Zoë" I yelled as Ladon was going to bite her. She turned almost too late, but I jumped towards her bringing her down. Instead of her being bitten, a bit of my leg suffered the bite.

"Aahhhh" I felt like my leg was going fall off, a very acidic substance through my bone. Easily the worst pain I've ever felt.

"We can't defeat him!" I said in despair.

"Wait let me try something. A last-minute idea"

And then I shit you not, she began to sing a lullaby! And some gears in the dragons head apparently began to turn and he remembered Zoë Nightshade. Ladon's acidic breath was blown on to us (which didn't help the acidic pain in my leg) and he began to sleep.

"Why the fuck didn't you do that before?! Do you know how much my leg hurt?!" I asked her trying to follow her to the other battlefield, limping pretty badly may I add.

"That almost never worked. Now shut up, we have to go help the others." She did a full sprint whereas I could only fast limp over there.

"I hate my life," I kept repeating as I followed Zoë, who was easily eight hundred feet in front of me.

We kept running towards the battleground for about two and a half minutes when we arrived at the scene. There were basically four parts of the 'battleground'. There was Amnabeth fighting bunch of stupid monsters, there was Percy Jackson fighting Atlas, the damned _Luke_ _Castellan _fighting Thalia and then my mom holding up the sky.

As soon as my mom saw me, her eyes brightened the triple which they were originally. It seemed as if I had given her hope once again.

"Zoë, you go fight Atlas. I have personal business to settle." She nodded, this being the first time she has listened to me (or probably any male).

I 'ran' as fast as I could towards where Luke and Thalia were engaging in a sword fight. Gripping my necklace and ripping it out of my neck, my bow was formed. It has been a while since I used it, but there was something about this that made me extremely confident I could hit my target. I readied my bow while running just like in the movies, and aimed at Luke's shoulder.

"Castellan!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. He turned to look who it was that said his name and I fired instantly. The arrow flew at a godly speed, embedding itself on his left shoulder.

Now, I have no idea how this happened, but as I approached Luke, my bow began to morph. Slowly, it appeared as it had broken into the half, then a grip began to form and some sharp edges also appeared. In the span of five seconds, my bow changed to a pair of hunting knives.

"I will fucking kill you Castellan" I said in my deepest voice.

"Why? Because I'm a 'traitor'? Face it Jagger, your mother hasn't claimed you because she is ashamed of you. You would be so much better with us, join us. Realize who the real enemy is. Kronos would never do anything to hurt us." Now that was the last straw.

"Thalia, go help out Zoë. She will need your help"

"You won't tell me w-" she began to say when I cut her off

"I'm not telling you. I'm ordering you. Go. NOW" I said pretty roughly, not being able to control my anger directed to this creature in front of me. She looked at me with a broken face before sprinting towards the other battles.

"You and I aren't much different Jagger,"

"Shut up" I growled as I tried to slice his neck. He just sidestepped and cut my arm.

"Tsk tsk tsk. You know you're handicapped yet you decide to face me?"

"I have nothing else to lose," he swiped towards my right abdomen and I dodged it. He kept slashing with great technique and I just kept on dodging and moving a lot. Having just one functional leg didn't help my movability at all, and so I had deep cuts all over my chest, abdomen, legs, and arms. But the biggest one was a stab just by my lungs.

Suddenly, an idea popped into my brain. I'm a hunter, and hunters are aggressive but not overly so. I wasn't thinking like a hunter, I was thinking like a Greek militia warrior. But that isn't me.

So, as Luke was going to impale my heart with his sword, I quickly dodged, moved forward and slashed his sword hand in a manner that it would be extremely painful just to grab his sword. I kept on attacking, impaling my hunting knives into his thighs, abdomen, and arms. I seemed to have taken a big toll on him, as he looked very tired. There was no doubt I was even more tired, with the venom from the bite consuming my last bit of energy.

"I will recuperate. I will get better. We will overthrow Olympus. Hope your last living minutes were worth it,"

"Even if I die right now, I hope you know that this plan has failed," and on queue, we heard Atlas yell 'No! Not again' or something like that. Annabeth, Thalia, Zoë and now Jackson were dealing with the monsters. Luke was watching as his plan failed, and so I took the opportunity to take my last remaining energy to Yeet Luke down the cliff.

I know he survived, as I still existed. If he had died then a paradox would've been created and that's just a whole other world.

I turned towards the rest of the quest members when I felt my body shut down. All except my head and half of my heart and lungs just stopped working. I fell down on my side, but I couldn't feel when my body made contact with the ground.

I vaguely saw the figures running towards me, putting me face up and trying to ask me questions. All I could see were around two of these figures crying, which in turn made some tears fall from my eyes.

"I-I do-don-don't w—wa-ant to-to die" I managed to croak. My life hadn't been that bad compared to many other demigods, I had a fairly good relationship with my mother, and it was all coming to an end.

"You're not going to die" I heard a feminine voice said from beside me, clearly crying her heart out. She had black hair, spiky.

"Th-Thalia" began to choke on my words "i-i never me-meant to-to hurt y-you"

If she replied then I didn't hear it. I was starting to see blurry, and I recognized it as that my death was just a few seconds away.

"M-mom" I don't know if she grabbed my hand or not, I don't even know if she was there. But I hoped this words will make up for everything. "I-I lo-love y-you s-s-so m-much. I-I'm s-sorry f-for c-c-causing s-so much p-pain to ev-every-everyone. F-for-forgive" The 'me' never came out. There were no more words which I could say. I began to choke on my own blood for about five second when everything stopped. No more pain. No more darkness. No more nothing.


End file.
